
With the exception of his elderly housekeeper Miss Agda who he treats almost like a surrogate platonic wife, widowed seventy-eight year old Dr. Isak Borg, a former medical doctor and professor, has retreated from any human contact, partly his own want but partly the decision of others who do not want to spend time with him because of his cold demeanor. He is traveling from his home in Stockholm to Lund to accept an honorary degree. Instead of flying as was the original plan, ... (Full plot summary below)
Enjoy FREE movies and series with your Prime (USA) subscription or when you start a 30-day free trial!
Links compiled using automated software. Availability of offers subject to change / might be region specific / out of date.
With the exception of his elderly housekeeper Miss Agda who he treats almost like a surrogate platonic wife, widowed seventy-eight year old Dr. Isak Borg, a former medical doctor and professor, has retreated from any human contact, partly his own want but partly the decision of others who do not want to spend time with him because of his cold demeanor. He is traveling from his home in Stockholm to Lund to accept an honorary degree. Instead of flying as was the original plan, he decides to take the day long drive instead. Along for the ride is his daughter-in-law Marianne, who had been staying with him for the month but has now decided to go home. The many stops and encounters along the way make him reminisce about various parts of his life. Those stops which make him reminisce directly are at his childhood summer home, at the home of his equally emotionally cold mother, and at a gas station where the attendants praise him as a man for his work. But the lives of other people they encounter almost mirror his own, including hitchhikers Sara, Viktor and Anders - who remind him of his cousin Sara who he was going to marry, himself and his irresponsible brother Sigfrid who Sara eventually married - a bickering married couple Sten and Berit Alman, and Marianne and her husband and Isak's son Evald, whose marriage is as strained as was his own.
Leave your thoughts about Wild Strawberries.
| Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)Ken HankePoetic and richly elegant -- and sometimes playful (but don't tell anyone, because lots of people think of Bergman as stupefyingly serious). |
| Cinema em CenaPablo VillaçaBergman understands one of the most bittersweet characteristics of nostalgia: it juxtaposes our memories, in which everyone is young and healthy, and the inevitable reality of physical decline that followed. [Full review in Portuguese.] |
| Edinburgh U Film SocietyKeith H. BrownQuite simply a must-see for the serious filmgoer, offering a perfect introduction to the work of one of the world's greatest directors. |
| Combustible CelluloidJeffrey M. AndersonMy favorite Ingmar Bergman film, without question. |
| BBC.comTom DawsonThis is one of the truly outstanding works of post-war European cinema. |
| GuardianPeter BradshawA wonderfully composed movie in which Ingmar Bergman is able to vary the tone from melancholy to gaiety in the most deeply satisfying way |
| Time OutGeoff AndrewOne of Bergman's warmest, and therefore finest films. |
| COED.comPhil VillarrealSwedish master Ingmar Bergman delivered one of his greatest ruminations on love and life in this 1957 drama. |
| The NationRobert HatchA reviewer must exercise some tact in discussing this picture. It is a work of such high and subtle art that the temptation is to run in with a smother of adjectives and a display of analytical explanation. |
| Chicago TribuneMichael WilmingtonA film that goes where many others have gone (yes, this is Scrooge for Ph.D.s) but with a subtlety few have dreamed of? |