Movie: Ingmar Bergman's "Wild Strawberries" (1957) Swedish

[Bob Pr.]

Last night, our monthly film series "Great Films @ the Cathedal" showed Ingmar Bergman's "Wild Strawberries" (1957), 91 min, B&W, Swedish w/English subtitles. This film is currently rated #151 on IMDb's alltime greatest 250 films and is one of the early films that propelled Bergman's recognition by his peers as one of the greatest and influential film directors of all time. It's a psychological drama about a Swedish physician (Dr. Isak Borg), later an elderly professor, coming to terms with the way he's lived his life: his mistakes, weaknesses, his successes, strengths.

Knowing Bergman's life in the family in which he grew up helps one better understand both this film as well as his others. Bergman's mother was a fairly strong-willed nurse while his father was a strong-willed very strict Lutheran pastor who later was appointed pastor to the King of Sweden. Bergman's father was punitive, e.g., putting him as a young child in a dark closet for hours as a reaction to any wrong the father thought his son had done. Young Ingmar was entranced by the stained glass in his father's churches -- their saints, angels, devils, Biblical stories. His father and mother did not have a comfortable, happy marriage; Bergman later considered his mother his best friend. One can see echoes of these experiences in the trials, behaviors, and traits of the characters Bergman presents in WS as well as many of his other films. It's not that most of his films are autobiographical but that he uses his experiences to add depth and dimension.

Bergman said the germ of this WS narrative came to him when he driving across Sweden and passing through the town in which he grew up. He imagined going to homes he'd lived in -- opening the door and observing life and his relatives as they had been, and then after a bit -- exiting through the door to his life in the present. So this device (plus some troubling dreams) is used to help jolt his main character (Dr. Borg) into reassessing his life, his attitudes and behavior.

My explorations of my own family plus my work as a family therapist helped me appreciate this movie very much. In WS, one sees ample instances of how some experiences, traits and influences are transmitted through the generations. The tone at the end of WS is hopeful and satisfying to most. Our group unanimously thought "WS" ranked with the very best of the best we've seen this season (i.e., M. Hulot's Holiday; Rashomon; City Lights)

BTW, the title "Wild Strawberries" refers to a scene in the movie in which a young woman goes to a patch of little known wild strawberries to pick some as a succulent gift for a relative.

FWIW, over 75% of IMDb's voters rated WS as a 10, 9, or 8. About 6% rated it as deserving a 1, 2 or 3.

ETA: For more, see: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050986/