Wild Strawberries (film)

For other uses, see Wild Strawberries.

Wild Strawberries
Original film poster
Directed by	Ingmar Bergman
Produced by	Allan Ekelund
Written by	Ingmar Bergman
Starring	Victor Sjöström Bibi Andersson Ingrid Thulin Gunnar Björnstrand
Music by	Erik Nordgren
Cinematography	Gunnar Fischer
Editing by	Oscar Rosander
Distributed by	AB Svensk Filmindustri
Release date(s)	Sweden: 26 December 1957 United States: 22 June 1959
Running time	91 min.
Country	Sweden
Language	Swedish Latin

Wild Strawberries is a 1957 film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman, about an old man recalling his past. The original Swedish title is Smultronstället, which literally means "the wild strawberry patch", but idiomatically means an underrated gem of a place (often with personal or sentimental value). The cast includes Victor Sjöström in his final screen performance, as well as Bergman regulars Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin and Gunnar Björnstrand. Max von Sydow also appears in a small role. Bergman wrote the screenplay while hospitalized.^[1] Because it tackles difficult questions about life, and thought-provoking themes such as self-discovery and humanity's existence, the film is often considered to be one of Bergman's most emotional, one of his most optimistic, and one of his best.^[2]

1 Synopsis
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Awards and recognition
5 References
6 External links

Synopsis

Ingmar Bergman and Gunnar Sjöberg during production of Wild Strawberries

Isak Borg (Victor Sjöström) is an elderly medical doctor and professor who drives with his daughter-in-law Marianne (Ingrid Thulin) from Stockholm to Lund to receive an honorary degree from Lund University. During the trip, he is forced by nightmares, daydreams, his old age, and his impending death to reevaluate his life. He meets a variety of people on the road, from Sara, a female hitcher traveling with her fiance and escort, to a quarreling married couple who remind Isak of his own life and marriage.

Cast

Victor Sjöström as Professor Isak Borg
Bibi Andersson as Sara
Ingrid Thulin as Marianne Borg
Gunnar Björnstrand as Evald Borg
Jullan Kindahl as Agda
Folke Sundquist as Anders
Björn Bjelfvenstam as Viktor
Naima Wifstrand as Isak's Mother
Gunnel Broström as Mrs. Alman
Gertrud Fridh as Karin, Isak's wife
Sif Ruud as Aunt Olga
Gunnar Sjöberg as Sten Alman
Max von Sydow as Henrik Åkerman
Åke Fridell as Karin's lover
Yngve Nordwall as Uncle Aron
Per Sjöstrand as Sigfrid Borg
Gio Petré as Sigbritt Borg
Gunnel Lindblom as Charlotta Borg
Maud Hansson as Angelica Borg
Ann-Marie Wiman as Eva Åkerman
Eva Norée as Anna Borg
Lena Bergman as Kristina Borg, twin
Monica Ehrling as Birgitta Borg, twin

Production

Ingmar Bergman and Victor Sjöström 1957 during production of Wild Strawberries in the studios in Solna.

The shooting took place between 2 July 1957 and 27 August 1957.^[3] Contrary to popular belief, Sjöström was cast relatively late for the leading part, with Bergman not having any particular person in mind while writing the screenplay. Bergman has described how he came up with the idea while driving from Stockholm to Dalarna, stopping in Uppsala where he had been born and raised, and driving by outside his grandmother's old house, when he suddenly began to think about how it would be if he could open the door and inside it would be just as it had been during his childhood. "So it struck me - what if you could make a film about this; that you just walk up in a realistic way and open a door, and then you walk into your childhood, and then you open another door and come back to reality, and then you make a turn around a street corner and arrive in some other period of your existence, and everything goes on, lives. That was actually the idea behind Wild Strawberries".^[4]

Awards and recognition

The film won the Golden Bear for Best Film at the Berlin International Film Festival. It was also nominated for an Academy Award for Original Screenplay.

The film is included on the Vatican Best Films List, recommended for its portrayal of a man's "interior journey from pangs of regret and anxiety to a refreshing sense of peace and reconciliation".^[5]

The film was the inspiration^{[citation needed]} for Deconstructing Harry, written and directed by Woody Allen, in which a man (Allen) goes on a road trip to his former university to receive an honorary degree and on the way meets an assortment of characters and reevaluates his life.

References

^ "Wild Strawberries". The Ingmar Bergman Foundation. http://www.ingmarbergman.se/page.asp?guid=B31C7193-D784-4A94-88F2-98886CF35BFF&LanCD=EN. Retrieved on 2007-04-15.
^ Murray, Edward (1978). Ten Film Classics: A Re-viewing. F. Ungar Publishing Co.. ISBN 9780804426503.
^ Swedish Film Institute on the film (in Swedish) Swedish Film Institute
^ Bergman om Bergman, Björkman, Maans and Sima, Stockholm 1970, Norstedts Förlag
^ U.S. Catholic Bishops - Office of Film and Broadcasting, Vatican Best Films List

External links

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Twelve Angry Men	Golden Bear winner 1958	Succeeded by Les Cousins

v • d • e The films of Ingmar Bergman

1940s	Crisis (1946) • It Rains on Our Love (1946) • A Ship to India (1947) • Music in Darkness (1948) • Port of Call (1948) • Prison (1949) • Thirst (1949)

1950s	To Joy (1950) • This Can't Happen Here (1950) • Summer Interlude (1951) • Secrets of Women (1952) • Summer with Monika (1953) • Sawdust and Tinsel (1953) • A Lesson in Love (1954) • Dreams (1955) • Smiles of a Summer Night (1955) • The Seventh Seal (1957) • Wild Strawberries (1957) • Brink of Life (1958) • The Magician (1958)

1960s	The Virgin Spring (1960) • The Devil's Eye (1960) • Through a Glass Darkly (1961) • Winter Light (1962) • The Silence (1963) • All These Women (1964) • Persona (1966) • Hour of the Wolf (1968) • Shame (1968) • The Rite (1969) • The Passion of Anna (1969)

1970s	Faro Document (1970) • The Touch (1971) • Cries and Whispers (1972) • Scenes from a Marriage (1973) • The Magic Flute (1975) • Face to Face (1976) • The Serpent's Egg (1977) • Autumn Sonata (1978) • Faro Document 1979 (1979)

1980s	From the Life of the Marionettes (1980) • Fanny and Alexander (1982) • Karin's Face (1984) •

2000s	Saraband (2003)

TV plays	Mr. Sleeman Is Coming (1957) • The Venetian (1958) • Rabies (1958) Storm Weather (1960) • A Dream Play (1963) • Don Juan (1965) • The Misanthrope (1974) • Hustruskolan (1983) • After the Rehearsal (1984) • De två saliga (1986) • Markisinnan de Sade (1992) • Backanterna (1993) • The Last Gasp (1995) • In the Presence of a Clown (1997) • The Image Makers (2000)

v • d • e Cinema of Sweden

Films A-Z • Films by year: Pre 1930 • 1930s • 1940s • 1950s • 1960s • 1970s • 1980s • 1990s • 2000s Actors • Directors • Cinematographers • Composers • Editors • Producers • Screenwriters

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