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.
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.
WHAT ARE PEOPLE SAYING?
Be the first to comment about this film.
WHAT ARE CRITICS SAYING?
Total Film by
The New York Times by Bosley Crowther
Slant Magazine by Chuck Bowen
Chicago Reader by Dave Kehr
LarsenOnFilm by Josh Larsen
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
Entertainment Weekly by Ty Burr