[.ca] Wild Strawberries (Full Screen)

From Amazon.co.uk:
Made in 1957, Wild Strawberries finds the great Swedish director Ingmar Bergman at the height of his powers. It's a road movie, in effect: an aged medical professor (Victor Sjöström)--lonely, disillusioned and haunted by dreams of death--travels across country to receive an honorary degree. But as with all good road movies, the outer journey parallels an inner one. Incidents along the road conjure up memories, and Professor Borg finds himself forced to confront the failures and lost opportunities of his life. Gentle and elegiac, Bergman's film is a masterpiece of compassion and reconciliation, and also a tribute to his predecessor Sjöström, the greatest Swedish director of the silent era. The 78-year-old film maker gives an austere, moving performance, and Bergman treats his lined features like a landscape of yearning and regret. Sjöström is ably supported by other members of Bergman's regular repertory company of the period, particularly Bibi Andersson, heartbreakingly appealing, as the lost love of Borg's youth. --Philip Kemp

Amazon.com Essential Video:
An elderly college professor sets out in his car to receive an honorary degree--and takes a trip instead through his own past and subconscious--in this bittersweet but ultimately tender and understanding 1957 film by Swedish master Ingmar Bergman. Casting Swedish star Victor Sjöström in the lead, Bergman, then at the height of his powers as an international filmmaker, uses flashbacks and bright, lyrical storytelling to capture the full arc of one man's life: the successes that seem fleeting, the disappointments that linger in the memory, the regrets that never seem to let go. In some ways, it can be seen as a forerunner of Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry, except that Bergman's sense of irony is always more profound. --Marshall Fine

Smiles of a Summer Night:
When "Wild Strawberries" was released in 1957, Ingmar Bergman had been involved in more than a dozen films, everything from coming-of-age angst drama (the screenplay for "Torment" 1944) to sophisticated comedy ("Smiles of a Summer Night" 1955). With "Wild Strawberries" (and "The Seventh Seal" the same year) his name became well known outside art house circles. ("Now Bergman means Ingmar, not Ingrid," as one magazine put it.) His career even became the cover story for an issue of Time. One can only imagine American movie audiences going, out of curiosity, from the Deluxe color naughtiness of "Peyton Place" to Bergman's dark vision. Dark, yes; cold, no. In fact, this is one of Bergman's warmest films and, I think, one of the finest films ever made. The picture involves three worlds: The immediate world, the world of the past, and the world of dreams. As Professor Borg, a 78 year-old widower, makes a day trip from his home in Stockholm to the cathedral in Lund (where he is to receive an honorary degree) he deals with all three worlds: the present (his son's estranged wife who is traveling with him, the people they meet en route, the old professor's ancient mother), the past (painful memories of his youth), and the future (a series of persecution nightmares), all hauntingly photographed by Gunnar Fischer. (The 1985 film "DreamChild", about the old age of Alice Pleasance Liddell, has almost the same construction.) I suppose it's impossible not to compare "Wild Strawberries" with "A Christmas Carol". Like Scrooge, Professor Borg is visited by the "ghosts" of bitterness, unhappy memories, and nightmares -- and survives to find himself better adjusted to himself and other people. And Bergman obviously admires Dickens: whole scenes in "Fanny and Alexander" are lifted from "David Copperfield". But Bergman avoids egregious sentiment, unlike De Sica, whose geriatric study "Umberto D" comes dangerously close to schmaltz. (I keep thinking Lewis Stone and Lassie.) Neither the professor's frailties nor his revelations are trivialized -- especially important in the relationship with his son, whose life has been thwarted by the professor's coldness. In a flashback, the pregnant daughter-in-law tells the professor how her husband has told her in no uncetain terms that he condemns the idea of bringing a child into this absurd world. It's a revealing scene -- and, incidently, one of the most gracefully executed flashbacks you'll ever see. Another key scene occurs when the professor's car is sideswiped by another car occupied by a couple caught in a horrific misalliance, both the man and the woman greedily feeding off their hatred for each other. As the men work to get the couple's overturned car upright, the female stranger stands over them mocking "He strains his creaky limbs to show off in front of that pretty young girl!" However, it is the professor in the frame wih the woman, not her husband. Later, the professor confesses to his daughter-in-law that the couple reminded him of his own rotten marriage. Sunny? Hardly. Yet the sun shines even in Sweden and the conclusion of "Wild Strawberries" could be construed as a happy ending, though not pat and omniscient. Another plus is the excellent cast, including VIctor Sjöström (who had directed films in Hollywood during the silent era) as Professor Borg, Ingrid Thulin as his daughter-in-law, and Gunnar Björnstrand as his son. Max von Sydow can be seen briefly as a Texaco attendant, centuries away from the tormented knight of "The Seventh Seal". Bibi Andersson has a dual role, as a hip young hitchhiker in the "present" sequences and as the professor's lost love in the "past" sequences. To my knowledge, she and Sjöström are the only two actors to appear in all three worlds. These three worlds may seem forbidding to the uninitiated, but open up to them and you'll find they're filled with the intriguing artistry of a cinema master.

When film was an art form:
In this symbolic tale of an old man's journey from emotional isolation to a kind of personal renaissance, Ingmar Bergman explores in part his own past, and in doing so rewards us all with a tale of redemption and love. Victor Sjostrom, then 80 years old, stars as Professor Isak Borg whose self-indulgent cynicism has left him isolated from others. Sjostrom, whose work goes back to the very beginning of the Swedish cinema in the silent film era, both as an actor and as a director, gives a brilliant and compelling performance. All the action of the film takes place in a single day with flashbacks and dream sequences to Borg's past as Borg wakes and goes on a journey to receive a "Jubilee Doctor" degree from the University of Lund. Bergman wrote that the idea for the film came upon him when he asked the question, "What if I could suddenly walk into my childhood?" He then imagined a film "about suddenly opening a door, emerging in reality, then turning a corner and entering another period of one's existence, and all the time the past is going on, alive." Bibi Andersson plays both the Sara from Borg's childhood, the cousin he was to marry, and the hitchhiker Sara who with her two companions befriends him with warmth and affection. The key scene is when the ancient Borg in dreamscape comes upon the Sara of his childhood out gathering wild strawberries. Borg looks on (unnoticed of course) as his brother, the young Sigfrid, ravishes her with a kiss which she returns passionately; and, as the wild strawberries fall from her bowl onto her apron, staining it red, Borg experiences the pain of infidelity and heartbreak once again. Note that in English we speak of losing one's "cherry"; here the strawberries symbolize emotionally much the same thing for Sara. Later on in the film as the redemption comes, the present day Sara calls out to Borg that it is he that she really loves, always and forever. Borg waves her away from the balcony, yet we are greatly moved by her love, and we know how touched he is. The two young men accompanying Sara can be seen as reincarnations of the serious and careful Isak Borg and the more carefree and daring Sigfrid. It is as though his life has returned to him as a theater in which the characters resemble those of his past; yet we are not clear in realizing whether the resemblance properly belongs in the old man's mind or is a synchronicity of time returned. Memorable is Ingrid Thulin who plays Mariana, the wife of Borg's son who accompanies him on the auto trip to Lund. She begins with frank bitterness toward the old man but ends with love for him; and again we are emotionally moved at the transformation. What Bergman does so very well in this film is to make us experience forgiveness and the transformation of the human spirit from the negative emotions of jealousy and a cold indifference that is close to hate, to the redemption that comes with love and a renewal of the human spirit. In quiet agreement with this, but with the edge of realism fully intact, is the scene near the end when Borg asks his long time housekeeper and cook if they might not call one another by their first names. She responses that even at her age, a woman has her reputation to consider. Such a gentle comeuppance meshes well with, and serves as a foil for, all that has gone on before on this magical day in an old man's life. See this for Bergman who was just then realizing his genius (The Seventh Seal was produced immediately before this film) and for Sjostrom who had the rare opportunity to return to film as an actor in a leading role many decades past him prime, and made the most of it with a flawless performance, his last major performance as he was to die three years later.

Probably not for young people, generally.:
I think that this is a great movie; it's well filmed and well thought out and it kept me interested the whole way through. However before you rush out to see it, keep this in mind: 1. Would you be interested in watching a story about an old man? 2. Would you have the experience of years to appreciate the ideas behind this movie? This movie interested ME, and I'm only 17 at the time of writing, but I think that I'm probably the exception; certainly most people my age wouldn't be very interested in watching this, simply because death isn't something that they ever really think about. This film will probably be best enjoyed by those who feel the strains of time, and by academic proffessors like the one that this movie is about. Most other people will probably notice director Ingmar Bergman's masterful use of images in this film, but will feel like this film doesn't really pertain to them. (It will, though. Write down the title and watch it in 40 years!) Another thing that I'd just like to add at the end is that this film is in Swedish with subtitles, in case you didn't know. I personally really like the sound of Swedish being spoken, except sometimes what they say isn't translated, which can be a bit annoying... this film can also provide a kind of glimpse of the Swedish way of looking at things; subtle things that are different from other places, which can be interesting if you pay attention.

A big part of cinema history:
This is something one who likes Bergman's films --or great films in general-- mustn't leave unwatched. Wild Strawberries cannot be mistaken for anything else than a product of Ingmar Bergman, but isn't a run-of-the-mill Bergman movie. It's a gentle but deep film with unusually few "horror" scenes; psychologically it can be horrifying, but it never turns uninteresting or unconvincing. Victor Sjöström was 79 years old during the filming of Wild Strawberries (early July through late August 1957), and does a great and very convincing job as 73 year old Isak Borg - a pedantic old professor who, on a car-ride --on his way to the University of Lund to receive his jubilee degree-- stops at his childhood home, among other places, and flashed back at his youth. Gunnar Fischer's black and white cinematography is definitely part of what makes this journey mesmerizing. The movie has won 11 awards. Film historian Peter Cowie's commentary gives very interesting information, and an insightful and professionally presented analysis of the film. The disc also features a 90 minute documentary by Jörn Donner, which mostly consists of a 1998 interview with Bergman - this gives the disc more than 270 minutes of entertainment. Criterion presents the film with surprisingly well restored sound and picture, and anyone can watch it - this edition is region free!

Excellent movie....:
This is a great movie and one of my favorites, but why is it so much more than the version sold on Amazon.com? It's $58CDN while the version on the US website is US$35. Is this amazon or Canada customs regulations or what?