Daily Archives: June 8, 2016

Wild Strawberries (Smultronstället)
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Written by Ingmar Bergman
1957/Sweden
Svensk Filmindustri
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
#334 of 1001 Films You Must See Before You Die

[box] Professor Isak Borg: If I have been feeling worried or sad during the day, I have a habit of recalling scenes from childhood to calm me. So it was this evening.[/box]

I have loved this every time I have seen it.  And every time I see it, it seems like a different movie.

Isaac Borg (Viktor Sjöström) is a 78-year-old widower.  He lives alone with his equally aged housekeeper Miss Agda.  This particular day he is to receive an honorary doctorate celebrating his 50 years as a respected physician.  He decides to take his time and drive to Lund from Stockholm in his ancient limousine.  His daughter-in-law Marianne (Ingrid Thulin) asks to accompany him.  She wants to see his son Evald (Gunnar Bjoörnstrand), whom she left several days previously.  Isaac and Marianne do not enjoy a warm relationship.

We see the day in flashback as Isaac is writing in a journal.  Despite the honor he is to receive, his life seems to him to have been wasted and not really lived.  He spends much of the day having disturbing dreams and fantasies and learning hard truths.  His sadness is lightened by three young hitchhikers who join him en route.  With Bibi Andersson in a dual role as one of the hitchhikers and Isaac’s lost love Sara.

Somehow this has always struck me as a cold, sad movie.  On this viewing, however, it seemed positively redemptive.  Age may have something to do with it.  Now learning something about oneself and the possibility of even small changes seems hugely significant.

I probably don’t need to gush on and on about the beauty of this masterpiece.  I’ve always preferred The Seventh Seal but now I am not so sure.  Sjöström is completely fantastic in it.  I love his occasional childlike wistfulness.  My highest recommendation.

Wild Strawberries was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen.

Three reasons to watch – Criterion Collection

The Cranes Are Flying (Letyat zhuravli)  
Directed by Mikhail Kalatozov
Written by Viktor Rozov from his play
1957/USSR
Mosfilm
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
#338 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Stepan: Our wounds will heal. But our fierce hatred of war will never diminish. We share the grief of those who cannot meet their loved ones today, and we will do everything to insure that sweethearts are never again parted by war, that mothers need never again fear for their children’s lives, that fathers need never again choke back hidden tears. We have won, and we shall live not to destroy, but to build a new life![/box]

The rare play adaptation that should be seen for its mind-blowing cinematography.

The story is a simple one.  Veronica (Tatyana Samoylova) and Boris are in love.  He calls her “squirrel” and,when war breaks out and he volunteers, he gives her a stuffed squirrel to remember him by.  Parting is agony for Veronica.  Soon enough, she loses her parents in an air raid which destroys their apartment.  She goes to live with Boris’s family.  His slacker pianist cousin takes advantage of her and they must marry.

Veronica’s misery doesn’t seem to end and she looks more shell-shocked than any soldier.  The family is forced to evacuate to Siberia where she survives a number of calamities, always hoping to be reunited with the love of her life.

Cinematographer Sergei Urusevsky was a genius and his use of the camera in this film is only topped by his I Am Cuba (1964), also with director Kolotozov.  The tragic story is well told though at times the acting strays into silent film territory.  The propaganda is of the anti-war, patriotic variety.  Samoylovna has one of the great expressive faces in cinema.  Highly recommended.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62oM89qJ_Cs

Clip

Clip – opening