Wild Strawberries

I'm somewhat shamed to say that this was my first Bergman film. In my defence, my degree saw fit to ignore him completely, so I wasn't given a good start.

I get the impression Wild Strawberries is held pretty high in the Bergman pantheon, and I reckon with good reason. Reading Bergman's notes on the making of the film, it seems the dynamic between him and the great Swedish director (and idol of Bergman) Victor Sjostrom, who plays Professor Isak Borg was "tetchy", one of those mythic relationships between arguing individuals that somehow conspires to produce a great work of art. Herzog's entire work with Kinski seems to be based on this relationship.

Sjostrom gives a remarkably toned portrait of an aged professor, voluntarily withdrawn from "social intercourse". As he travels from Stockholm to Lund to receive an honorary doctorate, episodes from his life arrest him as a handless ticking clock looms over his consciousness, signalling the death that surely must come soon. Borg is not merely regretful, or merely sad, but some combination of regret, sorrow, misty-eyed happiness and a gratefulness to whoever gave him life. This last point is important - even as a confirmed man of science, he refuses to be drawn into a debate between two of the "youngsters" he gives a ride to on science vs religion. Whilst they go into the woods to fight over the existence of the Almighty, Borg recites a verse, thanking whatever or whoever gave him, and the world, life.

In his notes, Bergman discusses events in his own life during the making of the film - his estrangement from his parents - and speculates that this film, which ends with a son finding his mother and father in a clearing, is an arm open in reconciliation to his parents. This tone pervades the film. It is that most mature of viewpoints, one that perhaps can only be achieved in old age, of slow consideration, of weighing up; accepting regret and remembering happiness.

(Having said that, Bergman made this film when he was 37).