DVD/150: SMULTRONSTALLET (WILD STRAWBERRIES) (Ingmar Bergman, 1957)

Ingmar Bergman followed his masterpiece DET SJUNDE INSEGLET (THE SEVENTH SEAL) with another, the wonderful SMULTRONSTALLET (WILD STRAWBERRIES).

As the old doctor who reviews his unhappy life while travelling to receive a university honour, Bergman cast the silent film director Victor Sjostrom who gives an astonishing performance.

Although Bergman had directed Sjostrom eight years earlier, he found Strostrom more frail and frustrated at his failing memory; co-star Ingrid Thulin agreed to insist it was her fault if one of their scenes together went wrong.

Troubled by unsettling dreams of mortality. Dr. Isak Borg travels by car to receive a lifetime achievement award from his old university.  He is accompanied by daughter-in-law Marianne who admits that, like most people including his son, Borg is considered aloof and unlikeable.

A visit to his childhood summer home reawakens memories of his love for his cousin Sara, who married his brother.

Shelf or charity shop?  Well it IS part of a cracking Bergman box-set...  but even if on it's own, it's one to keep as it's Bergman at his most haunting and masterful. Helped immeasureably by Erik Nordgren's score and the poetic cinematography of Gunnar Fischer, it's a film to get lost in.  As I said Sjostrom, in his last film, is remarkably in almost every scene but is wonderfully restrained so his final show of emotion seems unsurprisingly natural.  He is supported by some of Bergman's favourite actors - Gunnel Lindblom appears as Borg's sister in flashback, Max von Sydow is a garage attendant who remembers Dr Borg as a caring local doctor, Gunnar Bjornstrand is Borg's son slowly turning into an unemotional shell like his father while Ingrid Thulin is excellent as Marianne, hiding her own secret from her father-in-law.  Bergman's relationship was ending with Bibi Andersson but he shines a spotlight on her talent by casting her in two key roles: luminous in flashback as Borg's beloved cousin who he loved from afar and, in the present day, as the free-spirited young girl who hitch-hikes a ride with her two lovers from Borg and Marianne; seeing the young trio begins the thaw in Borg's heart. By avoiding the inherent sentiment - just think of all the Hollywood films where a crotchety old man finds 'redemption' - Bergman makes WILD STRAWBERRIES universal.

Dvd/150: NATTVARDSGASTERNA (Winter Light) (Ingmar Bergman, 1963)

With NATTVARDSGASTERNA, Bergman proudly felt he had got his ideas onto the screen without compromising for commercial appeal.

Bergman's dissection of the loss of faith takes place in 77 real-time minutes: everything's pared to the bone.

Pastor Tomas Ericsson holds a nearly-empty mass on a bleak November morning.  Attending are Marta, a teacher who is having an unhappy relationship with him, and married couple Jonas and Karin.  Tomas is visited later by the couple: pregnant Karin tells Tomas that Jonas is struggling with depression, scared that China is developing an atomic bomb.  Alone with Jonas, Tomas tells him he cannot help as he has lost his faith, believing God helps no one.

Afterwards, atheist Marta attempts to comfort Tomas but they hear Jonas has committed suicide...

Sven Nykvist's stunning cinematography and unsentimental performances from Gunnar Bjornstrand, Ingrid Thulin, Max von Sydow and Gunnel Lindblom make Bergman's vision unforgettable.

Shelf or charity shop?  A difficult film to watch at times but for Bergman's humanist view of man alone in the world, this is one for the shelf...

 

 

Dvd/150: SASOM I EN SPEGEL (Through A Glass Darkly) (Ingmar Bergman, 1961)

The first in Bergman's Faith Trilogy, THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY won the 1961 Oscar for Best Foreign Film and retains an unsettling clarity of vision.

A family of four gather on an austere island: David has returned from finishing a novel abroad but the atmosphere is unsettled, his daughter Karin is recovering from a mental breakdown which involved shock therapy.

Karin's doctor husband Martin watches her closely and reveals to David that she will suffer continued breakdowns.  Also present is Karin's younger brother Minus, unhappy with their father's remoteness.

Karin is already hearing voices telling her people are waiting within the walls for the arrival of God.  She finds in David's diary his confession that he will probably use her breakdowns for a book.

The atmosphere of emotional distrust helps fracture Karen's mental state again...

Harriet Andersson, Max von Sydow, Gunnar Bjornstrand and Lars Passgard all give raw, memorable performances.

Shelf or charity shop?  I can see myself revisiting Ingmar Bergman's devastating reflection on the loss of faith again so shelf...

Dvd/150: KVINNODROM (Dreams) (Ingmar Bergman, 1955)

A lesser-known Bergman that balances light-heartedness with the feelings of longing and loneliness that the director excelled in.

 

The onscreen relationships reflected Bergman's own dwindling affair with Harriet Andersson who plays the mercurial fashion model Doris opposite the more statuesque Eva Dahlbeck as Susanne, a fashion photographer who is using Doris for a new campaign.

 

On a day in Gothenburg, both women confront the limits of happiness.  Susanne suggested the location as that's where her married lover lives and Doris, wandering around the city, meets Otto, an older, wealthy man who lavishes presents on her, doing so because she reminds him of his now-insane wife. 

 

But Otto rejects Doris after a visit from his sarcastic daughter while Susanne's happiness at being reunited with her lover is dashed when his wife appears.

 

Exquisite performances from Dahlbeck, Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrand as Otto and Kerstin Hedeby as his daughter Marianne.

Shelf or charity shop?  Shelf, in a Bergman box-set