Isak borg victor sjostrom decides to drive to the lund cathedral to pick up his honorary degree rather than take a train. Given that wild strawberries is probably the one film of bergman that bears the. She is interrupted by isak s brother, sigfrid, who we later learn she married and started a family with. Their bickering reminds isak of his relationship with his late wife, karin. When they accompany isaac in his car, we learn how bad and tragic their relationship is through their dialogue. Together with the seventh seal 1956, wild strawberries confirmed the reputation of ingmar bergman as one of world cinema s finest new talents. The movie opens when 78yearold isak borg, played by victor sjostrom, is in bed at home. Wild strawberries criterion collection bluray 1957. Physical because isak decides to travel from stockholm to lund by car, in order to receive an honorary degree, at sweden s oxford. He finds himself in the old town of stockholm, assaulted by a burning sun. He watches as sara picks strawberries to gift isak s deaf relative.
In a dream sequence, isak is asked by sten alman, now the examiner, to read foreign letters on the blackboard. On the drive you are taken through borgs dreams, memories and relationships with his daughter in law played by ingrid thulin and. Wild strawberries, ingmar bergman s 1957 followup to the the seventh seal, is a journey movie. The original swedish title is smultronstallet, which literally means the wild strawberry patch but idiomatically signifies an underrated gem of a place, often with personal or sentimental value. Ingmar bergman on wild strawberries and his most beautiful closeup the dick cavett show duration. Though those two films had quite different settings the seventh seal was an expressionistic fable set in the middle ages, while wild strawberries was a contemporary story about one day in. Wild strawberries smultronstallet, 1957, black and white, swedish, subtitled, is a film written and directed by swedish movie god ingmar bergman it follows a 14 hour road trip taken by isak borg played by victor sjostrom to go receive an honorary doctorate. But bergman s isak played by victor sjostrom is not running from war weariness but from a life of nihilism cloaked in the oldworld respectability of a family doctor. The dummy that isak borg mistakes for a pedestrian during the dream sequence was constructed from a balloon and a silk stocking. Scripted while bergman was being treated in hospital for two months whilst suffering gastric ulcers, wild strawberries emerges as one of the swedish director s. Wild strawberries 1957 written and directed by ingmar bergman. The basic existentialroadmovie structure of wild strawberries was later pinched by woody allen for deconstructing harry and strawberries also employs a specific trick which allen put to famous use in annie hall.
The cast includes victor sjostrom in his final screen performance as an old man recalling his past, as well as. Modern cinema rarely gives us a film as ambitious or thoughtful as ingmar bergman s wild strawberries. Through flashbacks and fantasies, dreams and nightmares, wild strawberries dramatizes one man s remarkable voyage of selfdiscovery. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or instore pickup. But wild strawberries, taken as a whole, is not at all a neurotic movie. Gateways loom, great areas of black, used by director ingmar bergman to suggest a hostile nothingness.
Dreams, remembering, and antisymbolism in ingmar bergman. Wild strawberries the current the criterion collection. The opening nightmare in wild strawberries comes as a shocking reminder of death to isak, the film s central character. In its precredit sequence, the film introduces us to isak borg, the isolated and ageing professor who is supposed to travel the next day from stockholm, his home, to receive an honorary degree at the university of lund. He dreams approximately being on a town road without a different humans gift. Early on in wild strawberries, the ailing professor isak borg played by. Bradley film collection held by the lilly library and sponsored by the media school at indiana university for another character study on old age staring a monumental cinema figure, see john. A good example of such dreams is depicted at the start of bergman s wild strawberries of 1957.
Bibi andersson and victor sjostrom in ingmar bergmans wild strawberries 1957. Opening with a starkly symbolic dream sequence, the film follows professor isak borg as he journeys by car in the company of his daughterinlaw marianne ingrid thulin to collect an award from his. Ingmar bergman s wild strawberries 1957, widely considered to be one of his greatest films, came directly after his the seventh seal 1957, when he reached the pinnacle of his artistic success 1,2. The film i constantly go back to is wild strawberries 1957, which, while scarcely a bag of laughs, has a compassionate view of life that best illustrates the more optimistic side of bergman s. As they travel along, sole road companions now, isak stops to show marianne his childhood summer home. Rather than the trouble of raising a child, isak s brother wants his wife to have an abortion. The american car has left hand drive and is driven on the left hand side of the road. Dreams, remembering, and antisymbolism in ingmar bergmans. Isak begins remembering his youthful days at the house and the land nearby.
Isak borg, now 78 years old, is traveling by car to lund to receive an. Wild strawberries is a 1957 swedish drama film written and directed by ingmar bergman. A couple of redheaded twin sisters as identical as two wild strawberries in loud unison announce the secrets of the day, among them the fact that sigfrid had kissed sara, whereupon sara runs sobbing out into the hall, where she tells a sister who wants to help her that, yes, isak was so enormously refined and extremely intellectual. I also own a criterion collection copy of wild strawberries and ive watched both recently. The main character, seventyeightyearold professor isak borg is forced to see his life in a true and painful light, but he also would learn that there is hope. Thulin speaks honestly to him in the car that isak begins his journey of. Isak borg decides to drive his own car to lund for a ceremony in which he. Isaac s car, and then their car turns over on the side of the road, a sign of the poor leadership of the couple s lives. When the car will not start again, the almans join the group in isak s car. In 1963, stanley kubrick listed wild strawberries 1957 as his second favorite film.
However, the longer the day dream goes on, the less concerned he. Wild strawberries is about an elderly doctor who, while about to receive recognition for his lifetime of service, realizes he s received no joy out of life. In many ways, wild strawberries is a physical and spiritual road trip. Wild strawberries, swedish film drama, released in 1957, that was acclaimed for. Though certainly not the first road movie or necessarily the best, ingmar bergman s wild strawberries smultronstallet is arguably one of the most influential. One of my favourite woody allen movies indeed, one of my favourite movies, period is a midsummer nights sex comedy, and you can clearly see elements in wild strawberries that appear in numerous allen movies, including a midsummer nights sex comedy although that particular allen movie is actually much more directly based on bergman s smiles. His hunt for love and understanding is relentless, yet remains elusive. The professor in wild strawberries, isak borg his name means ice fortress, was. Flashbacks with isak still in the scene show some of what life was like there long ago. The cast includes victor sjostrom in his final screen performance as an old man recalling his past, as well. Professor borg s car is a 1937 packard 120 touring sedan.
Wild strawberries by ingmar bergman ingmar bergman. When they arrive in lund, isak and marianne go to visit isak s 96yearold mother. I realized that wild strawberries is a car chase flick as well. Marianne goes off to swim as isak walks towards the old house. Professor isak borg reevaluates his life during a roadtrip between stockholm. Wild strawberries provides sincere, intelligent, and emotional contemplations of life s disappointment, regrets, and losses. He walks up to a patch of wild strawberries the swedish title of the film better translates to wild strawberry patch. Victor sjostrom plays isak borg, an elderly retired professor of medicine, setting out by car to the university of lund to receive a jubilee doctorate degree. While the seventh seal tackles with the fear of mortality and living in emptiness in an allegorical and religious fashion, ingmar bergman s next cinematic venture, the wild strawberries. Its final cadences, on the contrary, communicate a wonderful, warm sanity, and thulin s beautyoften in reaction shots, where she is not saying anything but merely listening serenely and responsivelyis a. Wild strawberries dvd, 2002, criterion collection for. It was director ingmar bergman s first commercial success in the united states.
In the film we follow isak borg, a physician, who travels by car with his troubled daughter in law to a life achievement type ceremony celebrating the somewhat meek, fearful and chatty doctor. Wild strawberries 1957 rotten tomatoes movie trailers. Wild strawberries was inspired by an ingmar bergman eureka moment in which he drove past his grandmother s house and wondered what it would be like to open a door that took one back into one s own childhood. Wild strawberries screens on october 14th at 3 pm as part of the city lights film series, a continuing series of key masterworks of 20thcentury filmmaking, programmed in collaboration with the david s. The film i constantly go back to is wild strawberries 1957, which. Isak acts as if he has been betrayed by sara and sigfrid and recalls these events mostly with contempt. Marianne goes off to swim in the lake, leaving isak alone. It was director ingmar bergmans first commercial success in the united states.
The carriage in borgs dream is the carriage of bergmans originating. Revisiting ingmar bergmanns film wild strawberries artnet. Before leaving, he has a frightening dream about his own mortality, and falls into grave doubts about the true worth of his life. This 1957 ingmar bergman masterpiece offers a portrait of a man s life within the events of a single day. Shop wild strawberries criterion collection bluray 1957 at best buy.