Smultronstället (1957)

Director:

Ingmar Bergman

Writer:

Ingmar Bergman (written by)

Release Date:

22 June 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

After living a life marked by coldness, an aging professor is forced to confront the emptiness of his existence.

Plot Keywords:

Professor | Elderly | Aging | Disillusionment | Daughter In Law

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 11 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Victor Sjöström	...	Dr. Isak Borg
Bibi Andersson	...	Sara
Ingrid Thulin	...	Marianne Borg
Gunnar Björnstrand	...	Dr. Evald Borg
Jullan Kindahl	...	Agda
Folke Sundquist	...	Anders
Björn Bjelfvenstam	...	Viktor
Naima Wifstrand	...	Mrs. Borg, Isak's Mother
Gunnel Broström	...	Mrs. Alman
Gertrud Fridh	...	Karin Borg, Isak's wife
Sif Ruud	...	Aunt Olga
Gunnar Sjöberg	...	Sten Alman / The Examiner
Max von Sydow	...	Henrik Åkerman
Åke Fridell	...	Karin's lover
Yngve Nordwall	...	Uncle Aron

Also Known As:

Wild Strawberries (UK) (USA)

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

Sweden

Language:

Swedish | Latin

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:PA (Ontario) | South Korea:15 (2002) | Finland:K-16 | Netherlands:12 (video rating) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:Unrated | West Germany:16 | Argentina:16 | UK:A (original rating) | Iceland:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Dalarö, Stockholms län, Sweden

Company:

Svensk Filmindustri (SF)

Trivia:

Ingmar Bergman has described in the interview 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 Smultronstället (1957)"

Goofs:

Continuity: The front license plate on the VW disappears when untying the rope.

Quotes:

Sten Alman: Me and my wife are dependent on each other. It is out of selfish reasons we haven't beaten each other to death a long time ago.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Big Fish (2003)

Soundtrack:

MARCIA CAROLUS REX

Film as an art form

We trace the journey of an elderly professor who is traveling to receive an honor for a life of accomplishment and service. Along the way he confronts the lack of success in his human relationships as opposed to the success he has enjoyed professionally. A string of encounters with the past and with iconic people he meets gradually bring the contrast into focus for the viewer.

I particularly liked the subtle and intelligent storytelling in this film. He tells us before the credits that he is just a boring pedant. We realize as he comes to realize what this has really meant to him. We slowly receive hints of the emotional truths that frame the man's life. He is confronted by traces of how things could have been different.

Important points are hinted at without being said--the viewer is left to sort them out. For example, the couple at the gas station convince us in a short and seemingly banal exchange that the Professor was a great healer whose service to those outside his family was anything but sterile. Yet speaking to his daughter-in-law, his smug insistence that a debt must be paid gives us a glimpse at what it must have been like for his son to have been held at emotional bay by bloodless, cold rationalism.

This film deserves NOT to be remade, in order to preserve its artistic integrity. It affirms that film can be an art form that touches the soul as opposed to merely a product to be sold.