Smultronstallet / Wild Strawberries (1957), Ingmar Bergman on Life and Work (1998) DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

Wild Strawberries captures the thoughtful and compassionate side of Ingmar Bergman rarely seen in his films. It is the story of an aging man's introspective journey on the meaning of his life, and inevitability of death.

Isak Borg is a doctor well into his autumn years and about to receive an honorary degree celebrating his fifty years in medicine. As he makes the trip to the university, he and his daughter-in-law travel across the areas where he grew up, leading Isak to reflect on his life, which ultimately makes him confront his fears and the fact that he has become a cold, inadequate man. They pick up a group of kids and a husband and wife, and even these strangers begin to meld into Isak's nightmares and reflections. Isak Borg is forced to confront his wasted emotional life, the inevitability of his death, and he struggles to make amends with who he has become.

Wild Strawberries is the most beautiful of Ingmar Bergman's pessimistic films. There are splashes of humor in it, but its effective depiction of the suffocating loneliness elderly people struggle with towards the end of their lives is indeed quite depressing.

Director: Ingmar Bergman
Cast: Victor Sjostrom, Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin
Country: Sweden
Genre: Drama, Romance
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