Moview Review: Wild Strawberries

I just saw the 1957 Swedish film Wild Strawberries (“Smultronstället”), by director Ingmar Bergman. Bergman is considered one of the most influential directors of modern cinema.



It’s a slow story about a day in the life of an old man, who is on his way to be honoured for his accomplishments as a doctor for fifty years. The story is similar in tone to Charles Dickens’s 1843 novel, A Christmas Carol, with the stingy, grumpy Ebenezer Scrooge, forced to re-evaluate his life after fantastical journeys through time. In Wild Strawberries, the character Isak Borg, described as a cold and selfish person, is also faced with the meaning of his life. Unlike the mystical experiences in Dickens’ novel, Wild Strawberries is filled with memory flashbacks, surrealistic dreams and strange encounters with people on his journey. The journey forces Isak Bord, now a lonely old man, to take inventory of his life.

Although a bleak movie at first, it turned out to be a very pleasant story. It is especially the cinematography that I enjoyed. There are so few movies these days that really tell the story through images. (It sounds like a contradiction, I know.) Bergman really knows how to “show” the story with the subtlest of visual information. Wild Strawberries is a good picture by an excellent director.

I must admit, even though I had Film Theory & Critique as a minor this was the first time for me to actually watch a Bergman film. I have a suspicion it won't be the last.