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DVD Wild Strawberries - Criterion Collection
An elderly college professor sets out in his car to receive an honorary degree--and takes a trip instead through his own past and subconscious--in this bittersweet but ultimately tender and understanding 1957 film by Swedish master Ingmar Bergman. Casting Swedish star Victor Sjöström in the lead, Bergman, then at the height of his powers as an international filmmaker, uses flashbacks and bright, lyrical storytelling to capture the full arc of one man's life: the successes that seem fleeting, the disappointments that linger in the memory, the regrets that never seem to let go. In some ways, it can be seen as a forerunner of Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry, except that Bergman's sense of irony is always more profound. --Marshall Fine
Review(s): DVD Wild Strawberries - Criterion Collection
What a Journey
"Wild Strawberries" is considered one of Ingmar Bergman's best movies and that, in itself, is quite a recommendation. Still, there are some art films that are more art than film and many of us go away from one of those wondering "What the heck was that all about". This, however, is a film that has a story to tell in a serenely subtle way. The main character is Professor Borg who is a man of some modest reputation about to be honored with a special award. He decides to journey to the site of his award presentation by car. It is a good 10-12 hour journey and with him he takes his daughter in law. They don't particularly like each other but are willing to at least discuss this fact. Along the way they pick up, and sometimes discharge, other passengers in their spacious touring car. Also along the way they make several stops at places that generate memories in Professor Borg. At times while he naps his dreams give us other insights. It is through these dreams and recollections that the professor comes to understand much about life. The movie ends with our understanding the changes in Professor Borg. He is no longer the self-centered, argumentative man who is set in his ways. He now finds himself sincerely solicitous of others, concerned about the welfare of his son and daughter-in-law and their relationship. Though elderly, we see a man who has discovered that there is life still in him and that is something not to be wasted.
I didn't just give away the movie (I hope) because the beauty of "Wild Strawberries" is in the subtlety of its' message. We travel the journey with Professor Borg and company. We see his dreams as he experiences them and we, too, can see the distant truth available in each segment of the journey. For me, the meaning of the title, "Wild Strawberries", is the willingness to care enough for someone who can't do much for you and will probably forget that you were the one who went to the trouble to give what you gave. In other words; kindness for its' own sake alone.
I have the feeling that each time I see "Wild Strawberries" I will get more and more out of the movie. I'm content with what it's given me thus far. It truly is a beautiful film.
metamorphosis-- never too late
Other reviewers have already given this film the justice it is due, and my words analyzing symbolism would be overkill. It is enough to say that I personally have always had difficulty "getting into" old movies, despite the fact that I have tried and know that there is a value to having this kind of cultural literacy. The fact that Bergman is perceived as one of the greatest directors of all time and my own interest in Scandinavian literature and cinema, I should have given this film (and Bergman's others) a view much earlier. Despite my distaste for or boredom with older cinema, I found this to be an eminently satisfying film in which an elderly professor takes a drive to collect an honorary degree, and along the way, he is visited by visions and apparitions of his past, as though his life is flashing (slowly) before his eyes. His experiences, his regrets, sorrows, and the bitterness and cynicism that have marked him. He is disliked, somewhat feared and estranged even from his son, perceived as cold and disinterested. But what happens to him on his drive is a kind of eye-opening metamorphosis. Not only does the professor change, the perceptions of those around him change, too.
All that, and Jorg Donner's interview
I need not repeat all the fine words of the previous writers, except to say I am grateful to Criterion for delivering the same crisp print I remember from years ago when WS was first available in the US. What a fine accomplishment. (Would that the company were to concentrate on historic preservation, as opposed to some of its recent dubious works.)
What I also admire in this DVD is the interview conducted by Jorg Donner. He so well draws out Ingmar Bergman on such a wide variety of issues that you come away with a marvelous intellectual and emotional portrait of the artist. What is more, you hear from the maestro's own mouth of the breadth of his own work during his nearing century --- over 50 films, countless theatrical and operatic productions, some 120, which continue to propel him in his advancing age.
Bergman may well be the Shakespeare of our own age, and Donner's drawing out helps you to realize this. As The Bard drew his English from the first Book of Common Prayer, so may Bergman be the artistic idiom from which not only some of the present filmmakers and writers receive their inspiration, but perhaps may well project into the future.........if writers and directors are wise. For just as Bergman struggled with the Svensk Filmindustri in his early development (just as did Kurosawa with the Japanese Film Institute), so must the present and next generation struggle to find meaning. Not that I am seeing much from them right now, you understand.....
Donner also helps us to see that Ingmar continues to be a work in progress, still growing and changing in aspect of mind and body, proving that the apogee is not met at some legislated retirement age. What a fine interview!
My mind's eye returns to the movie. Isn't it a marvel how Bergman develops his characters, especially the venerable Victor Sjostrom, and the simultaneous vulnerability and lyricism of the kids? What a sweet show.
This is filmmaking at its best, and restoration at its highest. I only regret that Amazon (the Greek of that word literally meaning "the breastless ones") prohibits me from giving more than five stars, five less than in my heart.
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