1957 - WILD STRAWBERRIES, Bergman’s classic film about old age

 In the film business when you're hot you're hot and Ingmar Bergman was burning up in the late 1950's.  He was entering one of the most creative periods in his career.  Smiles of a Summer Night and The Seventh Seal had been very successful for him.  The Virgin Spring and his "God Trilogy" were in his future.  Bergman had been thinking a lot about the passage of time and memory when he wrote the screenplay for this film.

 

Wild Strawberries is about an old physician Isak Borg, played by 78 year old director Victor Sjöström who is literally on a journey that causes him to recall his youth while traveling to relieve an honorary university degree.  Most of his memories are about the disappointments in life which he is now attempting to come to terms with as he reaches the end of his existence.

 

This is an extremely well made film.  The black and white photography by Gunner Fischer is excellent.  The performers are from Bergman's famous "stock company." Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Björnstrand and Max von Sydow in a small role as a gas station attendant of all things.  They are at their usual high caliber of acting for a Bergman film.

 

But the film is in many ways a tribute to Victor Sjöström.  Sjöström was one of the most important Scandinavian filmmakers dating back to the silent era.  Sjöström even for a time worked for MGM of all places.  He made a couple of masterpieces in America, The Scarlet Letter and The Wind with Lillian Gish before he returned to Sweden.  He was also a mentor to Ingmar Bergman at the beginning of his career.

Wild Strawberries is considered one of Bergman's masterworks and more importantly one of his most accessible films.  It held up very well on my current viewing.

Written by Ingmar Bergman, the running time is 91 minutes.