Wild Strawberries (film)
"Wild Strawberries" is a 1957 film directed by renowned Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, notable for its deep exploration of themes related to aging, mortality, and the search for meaning in one’s life. The narrative follows Professor Isak Borg, who embarks on a reflective road trip to receive an honorary degree at a university in Lund, accompanied by his daughter-in-law, Marianne. Throughout their journey, Borg engages in dreams and memories that reveal his past relationships and emotional struggles, particularly his regrets regarding love and family connections. The film employs a stream-of-consciousness style, delving into Borg's psyche as he confronts his failures and seeks closure with his past.
"Wild Strawberries" is highly regarded in cinema history, often recognized for its accessibility compared to other Bergman works, and it ranks sixty-third on Sight & Sound magazine's list of the greatest films. Its title metaphorically represents rebirth and renewal, aligning with Borg's eventual acceptance of his life experiences. The film has influenced various filmmakers, including Woody Allen, who has incorporated elements from it into his own works. With its poignant narrative and emotional depth, "Wild Strawberries" remains a significant contribution to the exploration of human experience in film.
Subject Terms
Wild Strawberries (film)
- Release Date: 1957
- Director(s): Ingmar Bergman
- Writer(s): Ingmar Bergman
- Principal Actors and Roles: Bibi Andersson (Sara); Gunnar Björnstrand (Dr. Evald Borg); Victor Sjöström (Dr. Isak Borg); Ingrid Thulin (Marianne Borg)
Wild Strawberries is a celebrated film directed by Ingmar Bergman. The film is one of the most admired in Bergman’s long and prolific career. Since its release, audiences have been moved by its examination of profound themes including aging, mortality and the search for meaning in one’s past.
Plot
The narrative is structured around a car trip Professor Isak Borg takes with his daughter-in-law Marianne, from Stockholm, where he lives, to a university in Lund to receive an honorary degree. Much of the action is told in a stream-of-consciousness manner and consists of dreams and reminiscences.
Borg is arrogant as well as irritable and Marianne finds his company to be a burden. While they are traveling they pick up two sets of passengers. The first set consists of two young men and a woman named Sara. When he was growing up Borg had been in love with a girl named Sara. However, he had been too shy to pursue the relationship and she ended up marrying his brother.
Inspired by meeting the new Sara, Borg has two dreams in which she appears. In the first dream she holds up a mirror to his face and remains elusive whereas in the second dream she proves to be more accessible and holds his hand. In both dreams she is young while he is not.
Borg and Marianne nearly have a collision with a middle-aged couple, Sten and Berit Alman, then end up taking them on as passengers. The Almans have a quarrelsome relationship and their bickering reminds Borg of his relationship with his late wife.
Later in the trip Borg visits his mother and his son Evald. Both of them are maladjusted and their difficulty with interpersonal relationships reminds him of his own. He also has another dream that appears to be a college examination but actually resembles a trial. In the dream Borg is confronted with his failure to cultivate better relationships with the people in his life who mattered most to him. As he and Marianne approach Lund, he seems to appreciate his past more and in one scene he encounters a store owner who remembers him kindly, even though Borg has not seen him in many years.
In Lund, Borg receives the honorary degree. The degree means little to him but he has clearly grown as a result of his reflections on the trip. When the contemporary Sara and her two friends take their leave of him, Sara says that she loves him, to which Borg responds, "I’ll remember." The moment seems to help him gain closure on the pain of his loss over the original Sara.
While staying at his son’s house Borg has a dream in which he feels happy at a picnic. The dream represents a marked departure from the morbid and chilling dreams he had before he learned to be at peace with himself.
Significance
Wild Strawberries has been the recipient of many awards and is ranked sixty-third on Sight & Sound magazine’s list of the best films of all time. Although they are widely acclaimed, Bergman’s films can be somewhat difficult for audiences to comprehend. With its universal themes of aging and acceptance, Wild Strawberries is considered one of his more accessible films.
In his excellent analysis of the film, Roger Manvell draws parallels between Wild Strawberries and Shakespeare’s King Lear, both of which are "a study of old age and the need for an old man to discover the errors and inhumane deeds of his life and, as he cannot mend them, come to terms with his own fallibility." Manvell also explains that the film’s title refers to "the fruit that symbolizes for the Swedish the emergence of spring, the rebirth of life." In a tender reminiscence Borg recalls an idyllic day that he and Sara spent together gathering strawberries.
Bergman said in an interview that he had decided to cast Victor Sjöström as Professor Borg after finishing the screenplay but the two men had known each other for many years and it is impossible to imagine the film without him. Sjöström had been a famous director during the silent film era and his film The Phantom Carriage (1921) influenced Bergman. Sjöström completely inhabits the character of Borg, capturing his aloofness as well as his longing for human connection.
Wild Strawberries has influenced many filmmakers, including Woody Allen, whose films contain many references to it. Allen’s comedy Bananas (1971) contains a parody of a dream sequence in Wild Strawberries in which Borg envisions his own funeral procession. Two of Allen’s other films, Stardust Memories (1980) and Deconstructing Harry (1997), borrow plotlines from Bergman’s film, especially Deconstructing Harry, which is also about an academic traveling to receive an honorary award.
Bergman directed many extraordinary films throughout his lengthy career. As a moving depiction of an elderly man coming to terms with his complicated life, Wild Strawberries stands out as one of his most fully realized.
Awards and nominations
Won
- Golden Globe (1959) Best Foreign Film
Nominated
- Academy Award (1959) Best Screenplay (Original): Ingmar Bergman
Bibliography
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Koskinen, Maaret, ed. Ingmar Bergman Revisited: Performance, Cinema and the Arts. New York: Wallflower, 2008. Print.
Le Fanu, Mark. "Wild Strawberries: Where Is the Friend I Seek?" Current. Criterion Collection, 11 June 2013. Web. 27 Aug. 2015. <https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/2795-wild-strawberries-where-is-the-friend-i-seek>.
Macnab, Geoffrey. Ingmar Bergman: The Life and Films of the Last Great European Director. London: I.B. Tauris, 2009. Print.
Malcolm, Derek. "Ingmar Bergman: Wild Strawberries." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 10 June 1999. Web. 27 Aug. 2015. <http://www.theguardian.com/film/1999/jun/10/1>.
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Shargel, Raphael, ed. Ingmar Bergman: Interviews (Conversations with Filmmakers). Jackson: UP of Mississippi, 2007. Print.