Summer Interlude (Sommarlek)
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Written by Ingmar Bergman and Herbert Grevenius
1951/USA
Svensk Filmindustri
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Marie: Let me mourn my youth alone.[/box]
I wonder how Bergman got to understand women so well. This is the best of the early films of his I have seen so far.
Marie (Maj-Britt Nilsson) is a 28-year-old prima ballerina. One night as she is preparing to go on stage she receives an old diary by post. The past comes flooding back in and she is now deeply sad. Marie starts to reflect the summer thirteen years before when she first fell in love. During the course of the movie she will also revisit the idyllic setting of her youthful romance.
In flashback we follow an innocent summer love affair as the inexperienced Marie meets, flirts with, and comes to love Henrik, a boy of about her age. We find out why Marie has not been able to open up to another love, including her current journalist boyfriend, since that time. With memory comes a form of catharsis.
This movie has a very simple but moving plot. We are left a lot of space to enjoy the glorious photography of the ballet and a carefree, sunlit summer in Sweden. It’s a visually gorgeous film and leaves the audience with a sense of hope for a change.
Trailer/montage of clips set to ballet music – SPOILER
