Wild Strawberries - Criterion Collection

Rating:
Summary: A Masterwork of Cinema
Review: This is one of the most compelling, powerful, and beautiful movies ever made. Bergman shows he is a master of the cinema. Everyone should watch this movie. You will learn alot about the art of crafting a classic film just by viewing this picture, but you may even learn something about yourself as well...
If you can't get past the fact that it is not in English, and that the best movies are not made on a hollywood assembly line in America then you should'nt bother watching it at all.

Rating:
Summary: A big part of cinema history
Review: This is something one who likes Bergman's films --or great films in general-- mustn't leave unwatched. Wild Strawberries cannot be mistaken for anything else than a product of Ingmar Bergman, but isn't a run-of-the-mill Bergman movie. It's a gentle but deep film with unusually few "horror" scenes; psychologically it can be horrifying, but it never turns uninteresting or unconvincing. Victor Sjöström was 79 years old during the filming of Wild Strawberries (early July through late August 1957), and does a great and very convincing job as 73 year old Isak Borg - a pedantic old professor who, on a car-ride --on his way to the University of Lund to receive his jubilee degree-- stops at his childhood home, among other places, and flashed back at his youth. Gunnar Fischer's black and white cinematography is definitely part of what makes this journey mesmerizing. The movie has won 11 awards.
Film historian Peter Cowie's commentary gives very interesting information, and an insightful and professionally presented analysis of the film. The disc also features a 90 minute documentary by Jörn Donner, which mostly consists of a 1998 interview with Bergman - this gives the disc more than 260 minutes of entertainment.
Criterion presents the film with surprisingly well restored sound and picture, and anyone can watch it - this edition is region free!

Rating:
Summary: Best Bergman Film, An Unforgettable Classic
Review: This is such a magnificent film, I'll never do it justice with words, nor do I have the time now to try. Victor Sjöström's performance brought me to tears. Bibi Andersson and Ingrid Thulin are both remarkable. I have read that Bergman had to work hard to convince Sjöström to do this film. He was apparently retired, burned-out, and withdrawn when Bergman approached him - i.e. the perfect man for the role. This film has such a simple metaphorical elegance and is filmed so beautifully as to evoke awe. All elements work with grace and beauty. I have experienced no scene in cinema like the end of this film when old Isak stands at the edge of the lake and sees his parents dressed in luminous white waving to him affectionately from across the water. The effect is almost overwhelming and cannot be reduced to any analysis of artistic technique. I feel such a powerful upwelling of both joy and sorrow...What a work! There's so much more to say but it's pointless. You must experience this masterpiece.

Rating:
Summary: Another hit by Ingmar Bergman
Review: This review is for the Criterion Colleciton DVD edition of the film.

Wild Strawberries released in Sweeden under the title Smultronstället, was the third film Bergman made that became world famous and is also the one that shot his career to the top.

The film follows a elderly retired medical college professor who reminisces on his life as he travels to the town of Lund to receive an honorary degree. He realizes the bleakness of his life and has flashbacks of earlier times in his life. The beginning of the film has a very famous dream sequence where he strolls through the abandoned streets of the city and horse drawn carriage carrying a coffin hits a lamppost.

The film has great scenes of the countryside and was very well photographed.

There are some fine special features also whuch include a stills gallery with behind-the-scenes images, audio commentary by Peter Cowie, and an excellent documentary on Ingmar Bergman. The Documentary film was made in 1998 and has great interviews with Ingmer Bergman. The documentary also contains clips from many of his pre-1955 films which lok really good.

This is a must buy for Scandinavian movie fans.

Rating:
Summary: mild strawberries
Review: To begin with I am usually hyper-critical of older movies. I don't like the over acting and bad close-ups for dramatic effect and bad music score. But this movie had none of that. Lots of sentimentality. Great acting. I liked all the characters. Beautiful shots. I rented this movie and now I will buy it on DVD. Not the best Bergman but a good movie overall.

Rating:
Summary: Bergman's Best
Review: To me, Bergman is the best, and Wild Strawberries is his best. Strong statement considering how much I really love some of his other films. But unlike most of his later films, Wild Strawberries is redemptive, far from nihilistic. Isak undergoes a transformation that is touching and cathartic. This film is a powerful affirmation even today, maybe more so today. I am always moved when I view this ultimately tender film.

Rating:
Summary: The three worlds of "Wild Strawberries"
Review: When "Wild Strawberries" was released in 1957, Ingmar Bergman had been involved in more than a dozen films, everything from coming-of-age angst drama (the screenplay for "Torment" 1944) to sophisticated comedy ("Smiles of a Summer Night" 1955). With "Wild Strawberries" (and "The Seventh Seal" the same year) his name became well known outside art house circles. ("Now Bergman means Ingmar, not Ingrid," as one magazine put it.) His career even became the cover story for an issue of Time. One can only imagine American movie audiences going, out of curiosity, from the Deluxe color naughtiness of "Peyton Place" to Bergman's dark vision. Dark, yes; cold, no. In fact, this is one of Bergman's warmest films and, I think, one of the finest films ever made. The picture involves three worlds: The immediate world, the world of the past, and the world of dreams. As Professor Borg, a 78 year-old widower, makes a day trip from his home in Stockholm to the cathedral in Lund (where he is to receive an honorary degree) he deals with all three worlds: the present (his son's estranged wife who is traveling with him, the people they meet en route, the old professor's ancient mother), the past (painful memories of his youth), and the future (a series of persecution nightmares), all hauntingly photographed by Gunnar Fischer. (The 1985 film "DreamChild", about the old age of Alice Pleasance Liddell, has almost the same construction.) I suppose it's impossible not to compare "Wild Strawberries" with "A Christmas Carol". Like Scrooge, Professor Borg is visited by the "ghosts" of bitterness, unhappy memories, and nightmares -- and survives to find himself better adjusted to himself and other people. And Bergman obviously admires Dickens: whole scenes in "Fanny and Alexander" are lifted from "David Copperfield". But Bergman avoids egregious sentiment, unlike De Sica, whose geriatric study "Umberto D" comes dangerously close to schmaltz. (I keep thinking Lewis Stone and Lassie.) Neither the professor's frailties nor his revelations are trivialized -- especially important in the relationship with his son, whose life has been thwarted by the professor's coldness. In a flashback, the pregnant daughter-in-law tells the professor how her husband has told her in no uncetain terms that he condemns the idea of bringing a child into this absurd world. It's a revealing scene -- and, incidently, one of the most gracefully executed flashbacks you'll ever see. Another key scene occurs when the professor's car is sideswiped by another car occupied by a couple caught in a horrific misalliance, both the man and the woman greedily feeding off their hatred for each other. As the men work to get the couple's overturned car upright, the female stranger stands over them mocking "He strains his creaky limbs to show off in front of that pretty young girl!" However, it is the professor in the frame wih the woman, not her husband. Later, the professor confesses to his daughter-in-law that the couple reminded him of his own rotten marriage. Sunny? Hardly. Yet the sun shines even in Sweden and the conclusion of "Wild Strawberries" could be construed as a happy ending, though not pat and omniscient. Another plus is the excellent cast, including VIctor Sjöström (who had directed films in Hollywood during the silent era) as Professor Borg, Ingrid Thulin as his daughter-in-law, and Gunnar Björnstrand as his son. Max von Sydow can be seen briefly as a Texaco attendant, centuries away from the tormented knight of "The Seventh Seal". Bibi Andersson has a dual role, as a hip young hitchhiker in the "present" sequences and as the professor's lost love in the "past" sequences. To my knowledge, she and Sjöström are the only two actors to appear in all three worlds. These three worlds may seem forbidding to the uninitiated, but open up to them and you'll find they're filled with the intriguing artistry of a cinema master.

Rating:
Summary: Timeless and Ageless, like our most distant memories...
Review: Wonderful, touching Bergman classic. Everyone should try to see this at least once. A quiet reflection on how life's small moments add up into all that there will be... and how we can each make a difference, at any moment, if we so choose. A beautiful film. Some moments feel slightly like moments in Dickens' classic, 'A Christmas Carol.' See this movie, and keep its memory close to your heart. Even in black and white, the aura of a Swedish summer is brought to life.. if you've ever seen one, you know there isn't much that's more beautiful...and well-loved, since the wait for it to come can be so long and dark. Gorgeous film.