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Wild Strawberries (film)
Encyclopedia
Wild Strawberries is a 1957 Swedish
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. Because it tackles difficult questions about life, and thought-provoking themes such as self-discovery and human existence, the film is often considered to be one of Bergman's most emotional, optimistic and best films.
to Lund
to receive the honorary degree Doctor Jubilaris 50 years after graduating from Lund University
.
Borg is accompanied by his pregnant daughter-in-law Marianne, who does not much like her father-in-law and is planning to separate from her husband, Evald, Isak's only son.
During the trip, Isak is forced by nightmare
s, daydream
s, his old age
, and his impending death to reevaluate his life. He meets a series of hitchhikers, each of whom set off dreams or reveries into Borg's troubled past. The first group consist of two young men and a woman named Sara, who is adored by both men. Sara is a double for Isak's love of his youth (and is played by the same actress). The first group remains with him throughout his journey. Next they pick up an embittered middle age couple whose vehicle has nearly collided with theirs. The pair exchange such a terrible vitriol and venom that Marianne stops the car and asks them to leave. They remind Isak of his own life and unhappy marriage. He reminisces about his childhood in the seaside, and his sweetheart Sara. He is confronted by his loneliness and aloofness, recognizing these traits both in his ancient mother and in his middle age physician son, and gradually advances towards acceptance of himself, his past, his present, and his soon-to-occur death.
Borg finally arrives at his destination and picks up his prize, which proves an empty ritual. That night, he bids a loving good-bye to his young friends, to whom the once bitter old man whispers, "remember me". As he goes to his bed in his son's home, he is overcome by a sense of peace and dreams of a family picnic by a lake. Closure and affirmation of life have finally come, and Borg's face radiates joy.
Bergman came up with the idea for the film 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". Later he would revise the story of the film's genesis. In Images: My Life in Film he comments on his own earlier statement: "That's a lie. The truth is that I am forever living in my childhood."
(the workplace of Isak Borg) in the late spring of 1957 after being given the green light to proceed by producer Carl Anders Dymling on the basis of a short synopsis. He was in the hospital for two months, being treated for recurrent gastric problems and general stress. Bergman's doctor at Karolinska was his good friend Sture Helander, who invited him to attend his lectures on psychosomatics. Helander was married to Gunnel Lindblom
, who was to play Isak's sister Charlotta in the film. Bergman was at a high point of his professional career after a triumphant season at the Malmö City Theatre, where he had been artistic director since 1952, and the success of both Smiles of a Summer Night
and The Seventh Seal
. However his private life was in disarray; his third marriage was on the rocks; his affair with Bibi Andersson
, which had begun in 1954, was coming to an end; his relationship with his parents was, after an attempted reconciliation with his mother, at desperately low ebb.
Casting and preproduction progressed rapidly. The completed screenplay is dated 31 May and shooting took place between 2 July 1957 and 27 August 1957. The scenes at the summer house were filmed in Saltsjöbaden
, a fashionable resort in the Stockholm archipelago. Part of the nightmare sequence was shot with predawn summer light in Gamla stan
, the old part of central Stockholm. Most of the movie was made at SF’s studio and on its back lot at Råsunda in northern Stockholm.
, Bergman's silent film
idol and early counselor at Svensk Filmindustri
, whom he had directed in To Joy
eight years earlier. "Victor," Bergman remarked, "was feeling wretched and didn’t want to [do it];... he must have been seventy eight. He was misanthropic and tired and felt old. I had to use all my powers of persuasion to get him to play the part."
In Bergman on Bergman he has stated that he only thought of Sjöström when the screenplay was complete, and that he asked Dymling to contact the famous actor and film director. Yet in Images: My Life in Film he claims that: "It is probably worth noting that I never for a moment thought of Sjöström when I was writing the screenplay. The suggestion came from the film's producer, Carl Anders Dymling. As I recall, I thought long and hard before I agreed to let him have the part."
During the shooting, the health of the 79-year-old Sjöström gave cause for concern. Dymling had persuaded him to take on the role with the words: "All you have to do is lie under a tree, eat wild strawberries and think about your past, so it's nothing too arduous." This was inaccurate and the burden of the film was completely on Sjöström who is in all but one scene of the film. Initially Sjöström had problems with his lines, which made him frustrated and angry. He would go off into a corner and beat his head against the wall in frustration, even to the point of drawing blood and producing bruises. He sometimes quibbled over details in the script. To unburden his revered mentor, Bergman made a pact with Ingrid Thulin
that if anything went wrong during a scene, she would take the blame on herself. Things improved when they changed filming times so that Sjöström could get home in time for his customary late afternoon whisky at 4:30. Sjöström got along particularly well with Bibi Andersson
.
As usual Bergman chose his collaborators from a team of actors and technicians with whom he had worked before in the cinema and the theater.
As Sara, Bibi Andersson plays both Borg’s childhood sweetheart who left him to marry his brother and a charming, energetic young woman who reminds him of that lost love. Andersson, then twenty one years old, was a member in Bergman's famed repertory company. He gave her a small part in his films Smiles of a Summer Night (1955) and as the jester’s wife in The Seventh Seal
(1957). She would continue to work for him in many more films, most notably in Persona
(1966).
Ingrid Thulin
plays Marianne, the sad gentle and warm daughter-in-law of Borg. She appeared in other Bergman films, as the mistress in Winter Light
(1963) and as one of three sisters in Cries and Whispers
(1972). Bergman’s first wife, Else Fisher, made a brief unaccredited appearance as Borg’s mother in the final flashback; their daughter, Lena, played one of Isak’s twin sisters.
for Best Film at the 8th Berlin International Film Festival
, "Best Film" and "Best Actor" at the Mar del Plata Film Festival
and won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film in 1960. 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".
The film also influenced Woody Allen
’s 1988 drama Another Woman
. That film’s main character, Marion Post, is also accused by friends and relatives of being cold and unfeeling, which forces her to reexamine her life. Allen also borrows several tropes from Bergman’s film, such as having Post’s sister-in-law tell her that her brother, Paul, hates her, having a former student tell Post that her class changed her life, and Allen has Post confront the demons of her past via several dream sequences and flashbacks that reveal important information to a viewer, as in Wild Strawberries. Allen also made reference to the scene in which Isak watches his family have dinner in Crimes and Misdemeanors
.
In a 1963 interview with Cinema magazine Stanley Kubrick
listed the film as his second favourite of all time.
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman
Ingmar Bergman
Ernst Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish director, writer and producer for film, stage and television. Described by Woody Allen as "probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera", he is recognized as one of the most accomplished and...
, about an old man recalling his past. The original Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
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
Victor Sjöström
Victor Sjöström was a Swedish actor, screenwriter, and film director.- Biography:Born in Silbodal, in the Värmland region of Sweden, he was only a year old when his father, Olof Adolf Sjöström, moved the family to Brooklyn, New York. His mother died when he was seven years old in 1886...
in his final screen performance, as well as Bergman regulars Bibi Andersson
Bibi Andersson
Bibi Andersson is a Swedish actress.-Early life:Bibi Andersson was born as Berit Elisabeth Andersson in Kungsholmen, Stockholm, the daughter of Karin , a social worker, and Josef Andersson, a businessman...
, Ingrid Thulin
Ingrid Thulin
Ingrid Lilian Thulin was a Swedish film actress.-Biography:Thulin was born in Sollefteå, Ångermanland, northern Sweden, the daughter of Nanna and Adam Thulin, a fisherman...
and Gunnar Björnstrand
Gunnar Björnstrand
Gunnar Björnstrand was a Swedish actor known for his frequent work with writer/director Ingmar Bergman. He was born in Stockholm. He appeared in over 180 films....
. Max von Sydow
Max von Sydow
Max von Sydow is a Swedish actor. He has also held French citizenship since 2002. He has starred in many films and had supporting roles in dozens more...
also appears in a small role. Bergman wrote the screenplay while hospitalized. Because it tackles difficult questions about life, and thought-provoking themes such as self-discovery and human existence, the film is often considered to be one of Bergman's most emotional, optimistic and best films.
Plot
Grouchy, stubborn, and egotistical Professor Isak Borg, a 78 year old widower, is an elderly physician. His medical and scientific specialty was bacteriology. Before specializing he served as general practitioner in rural Sweden. He sets out on a long car ride from StockholmStockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
to Lund
Lund
-Main sights:During the 12th and 13th centuries, when the town was the seat of the archbishop, many churches and monasteries were built. At its peak, Lund had 27 churches, but most of them were demolished as result of the Reformation in 1536. Several medieval buildings remain, including Lund...
to receive the honorary degree Doctor Jubilaris 50 years after graduating from Lund University
Lund University
Lund University , located in the city of Lund in the province of Scania, Sweden, is one of northern Europe's most prestigious universities and one of Scandinavia's largest institutions for education and research, frequently ranked among the world's top 100 universities...
.
Borg is accompanied by his pregnant daughter-in-law Marianne, who does not much like her father-in-law and is planning to separate from her husband, Evald, Isak's only son.
During the trip, Isak is forced by nightmare
Nightmare
A nightmare is an unpleasant dream that can cause a strong negative emotional response from the mind, typically fear or horror, but also despair, anxiety and great sadness. The dream may contain situations of danger, discomfort, psychological or physical terror...
s, daydream
Daydream
A daydream is a visionary fantasy, especially one of happy, pleasant thoughts, hopes or ambitions, imagined as coming to pass, and experienced while awake. There are many types of daydreams, and there is no consistent definition amongst psychologists. The general public also uses the term for a...
s, his old age
Old age
Old age consists of ages nearing or surpassing the average life span of human beings, and thus the end of the human life cycle...
, and his impending death to reevaluate his life. He meets a series of hitchhikers, each of whom set off dreams or reveries into Borg's troubled past. The first group consist of two young men and a woman named Sara, who is adored by both men. Sara is a double for Isak's love of his youth (and is played by the same actress). The first group remains with him throughout his journey. Next they pick up an embittered middle age couple whose vehicle has nearly collided with theirs. The pair exchange such a terrible vitriol and venom that Marianne stops the car and asks them to leave. They remind Isak of his own life and unhappy marriage. He reminisces about his childhood in the seaside, and his sweetheart Sara. He is confronted by his loneliness and aloofness, recognizing these traits both in his ancient mother and in his middle age physician son, and gradually advances towards acceptance of himself, his past, his present, and his soon-to-occur death.
Borg finally arrives at his destination and picks up his prize, which proves an empty ritual. That night, he bids a loving good-bye to his young friends, to whom the once bitter old man whispers, "remember me". As he goes to his bed in his son's home, he is overcome by a sense of peace and dreams of a family picnic by a lake. Closure and affirmation of life have finally come, and Borg's face radiates joy.
Cast
- Victor SjöströmVictor SjöströmVictor Sjöström was a Swedish actor, screenwriter, and film director.- Biography:Born in Silbodal, in the Värmland region of Sweden, he was only a year old when his father, Olof Adolf Sjöström, moved the family to Brooklyn, New York. His mother died when he was seven years old in 1886...
– Professor Isak Borg - Bibi AnderssonBibi AnderssonBibi Andersson is a Swedish actress.-Early life:Bibi Andersson was born as Berit Elisabeth Andersson in Kungsholmen, Stockholm, the daughter of Karin , a social worker, and Josef Andersson, a businessman...
– Sara - Ingrid ThulinIngrid ThulinIngrid Lilian Thulin was a Swedish film actress.-Biography:Thulin was born in Sollefteå, Ångermanland, northern Sweden, the daughter of Nanna and Adam Thulin, a fisherman...
– Marianne Borg - Gunnar BjörnstrandGunnar BjörnstrandGunnar Björnstrand was a Swedish actor known for his frequent work with writer/director Ingmar Bergman. He was born in Stockholm. He appeared in over 180 films....
– Evald Borg - Jullan KindahlJullan KindahlJullan Kindahl was a Swedish film actress. She appeared in 33 films between 1923 and 1962.-Selected filmography:* Smiles of a Summer Night * Last Pair Out * Mr. Sleeman Is Coming...
– Agda - Folke SundquistFolke SundquistFolke Sundquist was a Swedish film actor. He appeared in 21 films between 1951 and 1968.-Selected filmography:* One Summer of Happiness * For the Sake of My Intemperate Youth...
– Anders - Björn BjelfvenstamBjörn BjelfvenstamBjörn Bjelfvenstam is a Swedish film actor. He was born in Uppsala, Sweden.-Selected filmography:* Secrets of Women * Smiles of a Summer Night * Last Pair Out * Wild Strawberries...
– Viktor - Naima WifstrandNaima WifstrandNaima Wifstrand was a Swedish film actress, operetta singer, troubadour, director and composer. Internationally, she was most notable for strong supporting parts in her later years in a number of Ingmar Bergman-films.-Biography:...
– Isak's Mother
- Gunnel Broström – Berit Alman
- Gertrud FridhGertrud FridhGertrud Fridh was a Swedish stage and film actress.Born in Gothenburg, Fridh later studied acting at Gothenburg City Theatre's acting school from 1941 to 1944. She worked in the 1940s and 50s at the city theatres in Gothenburg and Malmö...
– Karin Borg, Isak's wife - Sif RuudSif RuudSif Ruud, born Sif Einarsdotter Ruud Fallde was a Swedish film actress. She appeared in 140 films.-Selected filmography:* It Rains on Our Love * Port of Call * Thirst...
– Aunt Olga - Gunnar SjöbergGunnar SjöbergGunnar Sjöberg was a Swedish film actor. He was born in Stockholm, Sweden.-Selected filmography:* The Great Adventure * Barabbas * Wild Strawberries * Brink of Life...
– Sten Alman - Max von SydowMax von SydowMax von Sydow is a Swedish actor. He has also held French citizenship since 2002. He has starred in many films and had supporting roles in dozens more...
– Henrik Åkerman - Åke Fridell – Karin's lover
- Yngve NordwallYngve NordwallYngve Nordwall was a Swedish film actor and director.-Selected filmography:* Västkustens hjältar * Port of Call * This Can't Happen Here...
– Uncle Aron - Per Sjöstrand – Sigfrid Borg
- Gio PetréGio PetréGio Petré is a Swedish film actress. She appeared in 27 films between 1955 and 1974.-Selected filmography:* Loving Couples * Sommar och syndare * Wild Strawberries -External links:...
– Sigbritt Borg - Gunnel LindblomGunnel LindblomGunnel Lindblom , is a Swedish film actress and director. As an actor she has been particularly associated with the work of Ingmar Bergman, though in 1965 she performed the lead role in Miss Julie for BBC Television...
– Charlotta Borg - Maud HanssonMaud HanssonMaud Hansson is a Swedish film actress. She appeared in 20 films between 1956 and 1986.-Selected filmography:* The Seventh Seal * Wild Strawberries * The Venetian * Emil i Lönneberga...
– Angelica Borg - Ann-Marie WimanAnn-Marie WimanAnn-Marie Wiman is a Swedish actress and composer.-Filmography:*Supper for Two *69:an, sergeanten och jag *Wild Strawberries *Stöten *Din stund på jorden [miniseries]...
– Eva Åkerman - Eva Norée – Anna Borg
- Lena BergmanLena BergmanLena Bergman is a Swedish social services employee. She is the daughter of Ingmar Bergman and Else Fisher and was born in Stockholm, Sweden. In her youth, she appeared as an extra in three of her father's movies.-Filmography:...
– Kristina Borg, twin - Monica Ehrling – Birgitta Borg, twin
Origins
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
to Dalarna
Dalarna
', English exonym: Dalecarlia, is a historical province or landskap in central Sweden. Another English language form established in literature is the Dales. Places involving the element Dalecarlia exist in the United States....
, stopping in Uppsala
Uppsala
- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...
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". Later he would revise the story of the film's genesis. In Images: My Life in Film he comments on his own earlier statement: "That's a lie. The truth is that I am forever living in my childhood."
Development
Bergman wrote the screenplay of Wild Strawberries in Stockholm's Karolinska HospitalKarolinska University Hospital
The Karolinska University Hospital is a university hospital in Stockholm, Sweden, with two major sites in the municipalities of Huddinge and Solna....
(the workplace of Isak Borg) in the late spring of 1957 after being given the green light to proceed by producer Carl Anders Dymling on the basis of a short synopsis. He was in the hospital for two months, being treated for recurrent gastric problems and general stress. Bergman's doctor at Karolinska was his good friend Sture Helander, who invited him to attend his lectures on psychosomatics. Helander was married to Gunnel Lindblom
Gunnel Lindblom
Gunnel Lindblom , is a Swedish film actress and director. As an actor she has been particularly associated with the work of Ingmar Bergman, though in 1965 she performed the lead role in Miss Julie for BBC Television...
, who was to play Isak's sister Charlotta in the film. Bergman was at a high point of his professional career after a triumphant season at the Malmö City Theatre, where he had been artistic director since 1952, and the success of both Smiles of a Summer Night
Smiles of a Summer Night
Smiles of a Summer Night a.k.a. Smiles on a Summer Night is a 1955 Swedish comedy film directed by Ingmar Bergman. It was the first of Bergman's films to bring the director international success, due to its exposure at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival...
and The Seventh Seal
The Seventh Seal
The Seventh Seal is a 1957 Swedish film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Set during the Black Death, it tells of the journey of a medieval knight and a game of chess he plays with the personification of Death , who has come to take his life. Bergman developed the film from his own play...
. However his private life was in disarray; his third marriage was on the rocks; his affair with Bibi Andersson
Bibi Andersson
Bibi Andersson is a Swedish actress.-Early life:Bibi Andersson was born as Berit Elisabeth Andersson in Kungsholmen, Stockholm, the daughter of Karin , a social worker, and Josef Andersson, a businessman...
, which had begun in 1954, was coming to an end; his relationship with his parents was, after an attempted reconciliation with his mother, at desperately low ebb.
Casting and preproduction progressed rapidly. The completed screenplay is dated 31 May and shooting took place between 2 July 1957 and 27 August 1957. The scenes at the summer house were filmed in Saltsjöbaden
Saltsjöbaden
Saltsjöbaden is a locality situated in Nacka Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 8,937 inhabitants in 2005. It is located on the coast of the Baltic Sea.- History :...
, a fashionable resort in the Stockholm archipelago. Part of the nightmare sequence was shot with predawn summer light in Gamla stan
Gamla stan
Gamla stan , until 1980 officially Staden mellan broarna , is the old town of Stockholm, Sweden. Gamla stan consists primarily of the island Stadsholmen. The surrounding islets Riddarholmen, Helgeandsholmen, and Strömsborg are officially part of, but not colloquially included in, Gamla stan...
, the old part of central Stockholm. Most of the movie was made at SF’s studio and on its back lot at Råsunda in northern Stockholm.
Casting
The director's immediate choice for the leading role of the old professor was Victor SjöströmVictor Sjöström
Victor Sjöström was a Swedish actor, screenwriter, and film director.- Biography:Born in Silbodal, in the Värmland region of Sweden, he was only a year old when his father, Olof Adolf Sjöström, moved the family to Brooklyn, New York. His mother died when he was seven years old in 1886...
, Bergman's silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
idol and early counselor at Svensk Filmindustri
AB Svensk Filmindustri
AB Svensk Filmindustri or Svensk Filmindustri is a Swedish film production company, distributor and movie theatre chain, currently owned by the Bonnier Group. It was established on December 27, 1919....
, whom he had directed in To Joy
To Joy (film)
To Joy is a 1950 Swedish film directed by Ingmar Bergman about a young married couple who play together in a Swedish orchestra.-Cast:* Maj-Britt Nilsson as Marta Olsson* Stig Olin as Stig Eriksson* Birger Malmsten as Marcel* John Ekman as Mikael Bro...
eight years earlier. "Victor," Bergman remarked, "was feeling wretched and didn’t want to [do it];... he must have been seventy eight. He was misanthropic and tired and felt old. I had to use all my powers of persuasion to get him to play the part."
In Bergman on Bergman he has stated that he only thought of Sjöström when the screenplay was complete, and that he asked Dymling to contact the famous actor and film director. Yet in Images: My Life in Film he claims that: "It is probably worth noting that I never for a moment thought of Sjöström when I was writing the screenplay. The suggestion came from the film's producer, Carl Anders Dymling. As I recall, I thought long and hard before I agreed to let him have the part."
During the shooting, the health of the 79-year-old Sjöström gave cause for concern. Dymling had persuaded him to take on the role with the words: "All you have to do is lie under a tree, eat wild strawberries and think about your past, so it's nothing too arduous." This was inaccurate and the burden of the film was completely on Sjöström who is in all but one scene of the film. Initially Sjöström had problems with his lines, which made him frustrated and angry. He would go off into a corner and beat his head against the wall in frustration, even to the point of drawing blood and producing bruises. He sometimes quibbled over details in the script. To unburden his revered mentor, Bergman made a pact with Ingrid Thulin
Ingrid Thulin
Ingrid Lilian Thulin was a Swedish film actress.-Biography:Thulin was born in Sollefteå, Ångermanland, northern Sweden, the daughter of Nanna and Adam Thulin, a fisherman...
that if anything went wrong during a scene, she would take the blame on herself. Things improved when they changed filming times so that Sjöström could get home in time for his customary late afternoon whisky at 4:30. Sjöström got along particularly well with Bibi Andersson
Bibi Andersson
Bibi Andersson is a Swedish actress.-Early life:Bibi Andersson was born as Berit Elisabeth Andersson in Kungsholmen, Stockholm, the daughter of Karin , a social worker, and Josef Andersson, a businessman...
.
As usual Bergman chose his collaborators from a team of actors and technicians with whom he had worked before in the cinema and the theater.
As Sara, Bibi Andersson plays both Borg’s childhood sweetheart who left him to marry his brother and a charming, energetic young woman who reminds him of that lost love. Andersson, then twenty one years old, was a member in Bergman's famed repertory company. He gave her a small part in his films Smiles of a Summer Night (1955) and as the jester’s wife in The Seventh Seal
The Seventh Seal
The Seventh Seal is a 1957 Swedish film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Set during the Black Death, it tells of the journey of a medieval knight and a game of chess he plays with the personification of Death , who has come to take his life. Bergman developed the film from his own play...
(1957). She would continue to work for him in many more films, most notably in Persona
Persona
A persona, in the word's everyday usage, is a social role or a character played by an actor. The word is derived from Latin, where it originally referred to a theatrical mask. The Latin word probably derived from the Etruscan word "phersu", with the same meaning, and that from the Greek πρόσωπον...
(1966).
Ingrid Thulin
Ingrid Thulin
Ingrid Lilian Thulin was a Swedish film actress.-Biography:Thulin was born in Sollefteå, Ångermanland, northern Sweden, the daughter of Nanna and Adam Thulin, a fisherman...
plays Marianne, the sad gentle and warm daughter-in-law of Borg. She appeared in other Bergman films, as the mistress in Winter Light
Winter Light
Winter Light is a 1962 Swedish drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Bergman regulars Gunnar Björnstrand, Ingrid Thulin and Max von Sydow. The film follows Tomas Ericsson , pastor of a small rural Swedish church, as he deals with existential crisis and his...
(1963) and as one of three sisters in Cries and Whispers
Cries and Whispers
Cries and Whispers is a 1972 Swedish film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Harriet Andersson, Kari Sylwan, Ingrid Thulin and Liv Ullmann. The film is set on a mansion at the end of the 19th century and is about two sisters who watch over their third sister on her deathbed, torn...
(1972). Bergman’s first wife, Else Fisher, made a brief unaccredited appearance as Borg’s mother in the final flashback; their daughter, Lena, played one of Isak’s twin sisters.
Awards and recognition
The film won the Golden BearGolden Bear
According to legend, the Golden Bear was a large golden Ursus arctos. Members of the Ursus arctos species can reach masses of . The Grizzly Bear and the Kodiak Bear are North American subspecies of the Brown Bear....
for Best Film at the 8th Berlin International Film Festival
8th Berlin International Film Festival
The 8th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from June 27 to July 8, 1958.-Jury:* Frank Capra * J. Novais Teixeira* Jean Marais* Paul Rotha* L. B. Rao* Duilio Coletti* Michiko Tanaka* Gerhard T...
, "Best Film" and "Best Actor" at the Mar del Plata Film Festival
Mar del Plata Film Festival
The Mar del Plata International Film Festival is an international film festival that takes place every November in the city of Mar del Plata, Argentina...
and won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film in 1960. It was also nominated for an Academy Award for Original Screenplay
Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best script not based upon previously published material. Before 1940, there was an Academy Award for Best Story for writing. For 1940, it and the award in this article were separated into two awards. Beginning with the...
.
The film is included on the Vatican Best Films List
Vatican's list 45 films
In 1995, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of cinema, the Vatican compiled list 45 "greatest films" of all time. The 45 movies are divided into three categories: "Religion", "Values" and "Art".-Category "Religion":* Andrei Rublev...
, recommended for its portrayal of a man's "interior journey from pangs of regret and anxiety to a refreshing sense of peace and reconciliation".
The film also influenced Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
’s 1988 drama Another Woman
Another Woman
Another Woman is a 1988 film written and directed by Woody Allen. It stars Gena Rowlands and Mia Farrow and does not feature Allen in an acting role.-Plot:...
. That film’s main character, Marion Post, is also accused by friends and relatives of being cold and unfeeling, which forces her to reexamine her life. Allen also borrows several tropes from Bergman’s film, such as having Post’s sister-in-law tell her that her brother, Paul, hates her, having a former student tell Post that her class changed her life, and Allen has Post confront the demons of her past via several dream sequences and flashbacks that reveal important information to a viewer, as in Wild Strawberries. Allen also made reference to the scene in which Isak watches his family have dinner in Crimes and Misdemeanors
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Crimes and Misdemeanors is a 1989 black comedy written, directed by and co-starring Woody Allen, alongside Martin Landau, Mia Farrow, Anjelica Huston, Jerry Orbach, Alan Alda, Sam Waterston and Joanna Gleason....
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In a 1963 interview with Cinema magazine Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
listed the film as his second favourite of all time.