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Sweden · 1957
1h 31m
Director Ingmar Bergman
Starring Victor Sjöström, Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Björnstrand
Genre Drama
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Retired doctor Isak Borg sets out on a long car ride from Stockholm to Lund, Sweden, to receive an honorary degree from his alma mater. Traveling with his daughter-in-law, who hates him and plans to leave Isak's son, creates a tenuous environment. As Isak experiences nightmares, daydreams, hitchhikers, and old age, he starts to reevaluate his life.
For those who think legendary cine-Swede Ingmar Bergman's films are aloof and coldly austere, this warm, welcoming 1957 road movie of aged reflection - the inspiration for Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry - might come as a surprise.
The New York Times by Bosley Crowther
This one is so thoroughly mystifying that we wonder whether Mr. Bergman himself knew what he was trying to say.
Initially, Wild Strawberries appears to be an almost pointedly unsubtle coming-of-age story that’s been goosed with dime-store surrealism and male handwringing masked as intellectual engagement with humankind. But the bluntness is a misdirection that underlines the depth of Bergman’s empathy with his hero as well as his dedication to his real subject, which is the process of mentally freeing oneself from an insidiously limiting self-mythology.
There's a lot of allegorical baggage on board, but the film's virtues lie in its relative simplicity.
The bitter has not yet overpowered the sweet in this early film from writer-director Ingmar Bergman.
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
A wonderfully composed movie in which Ingmar Bergman is able to vary the tone from melancholy to gaiety in the most deeply satisfying way
Entertainment Weekly by Ty Burr
A film that goes where many others have gone (yes, this is Scrooge for Ph.D.s) but with a subtlety few have dreamed of?
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Beautiful and inspiring, Wild Strawberries is one of Bergman's best. Isak reflects on his future, past, and present throughout the film, confronting his fears and mistakes. Bergman understands how to depict the human condition through the conscious and subconscious experiences' of Isak, ultimately grounding the film in its humanity.