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Description:
One of the acknowledged classics of the cinema, Wild Strawberries confronts eternal questions of loneliness, aging, and mortality with a warmth and humanity not often found in Bergman's austere world. This visually rich and dramatic film follows an aged doctor's journey through a compelling landscape of dream and memory as he travels to receive an honorary degree. Haunting flashbacks and incidents along the way force him to confront his life and its failings. Victor Sjostrom gives a superb, affecting performance as the doctor. Bergman's dramatic use of light and dark to reveal the human mind and soul ranks Wild Strawberries among the world's greatest cinematic achievements.
Amazon.com essential video:
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
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Finely Crafted Existential Classic
It is certainly fair to say that much of Igmar Bergman's work (The Seventh Seal, Fanny and Alexander) takes an experienced mind to fully appreciate. As elitist as I'm in danger of sounding for writing that, I do believe it, but I will also concede that I am by no means experienced enough in life to appreciate Wild Strawberries fully. It makes me wonder why a film like Wild Strawberries would be shown in film classes to budding and perhaps talented artists, but not unlike me, they are most likely ... Read More
Rating:  - Great
Watching Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries for the first time was an interesting experience because of three reasons. One, the film itself is terrific. Two, I watched it the same night as the 2006 Academy Awards, and was struck by how Bergman's film never condescends to its viewer, unlike the major nominated Politically Correct films Hollywood churns out and rewards. Three, having always known of Bergman from the films of American filmmaker Woody Allen, I was struck at just how ... Read More
Rating: - Journey at the end of life
Touching firm by Ingmar Bergman about an elderly man, at the end of his life, making a final journey that would be his own attempt to reconcile his life. The main character is 78 year old man, a doctor and an intellectual who on his way to receive an honorary doctorate degree from the university meets people and places along the way that help him reflect on his childhood, youth, marriage, career and reconcile all of that in preparation for the inevitable death. Like all Bergman's movies, this one ... Read More
Rating: - "I must tell myself something I won't listen to when awake..."
So says Professor Isak* Borg (Victor Sjostrom), the protagonist in "Wild Strawberries," who's been having some frightening dreams that call into question his whole life. Beginning with the famous opening scene of Borg's nightmare of loneliness, isolation, and death, the film moves us between past and present with a series of day dreams and sleep dreams, some of them pleasant memories, some of them bitter memories, some of them forboding nightmares that speak to the aging Borg's anxiety that his life ... Read More
Rating: - Maybe the Best Film Ever Made
In 1975 my literature professor told us we were going to study the greatest movie ever made and it was about an old man driving an old car to receive an award for being a good doctor. Plus, instead of Technicolor, it was in black & white. On top of that, the firm was in Swedish and I would have to read the English subtitles. But never fear, with the promise of such an exhilarating, action-packed movie, he planned on showing it twice in a row, and wagered all who attended the first screening would ... Read More
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