I have never been a fan of symbolisms in movies, in fact it irritates me when simple gestures and acts are instead translated to metaphors and given deeper meanings than they should be. But I guess its not for other people but for some films it might actually work. "Smultronstället (Wild Strawberries)" is one of those films that deals with sentimentality and the coming end of a person's life. I'm not much of fan of Ingmar Bergman but that changed when I saw this film.
It tells the story Eberhard Isak Borg (Victor Sjöström), a physician who is about to receive a honorary degree from Lund University after 50 years. He dreams of walking on a deserted street, he notices a clock missing a hand and a horse carrying a hearse crossing his path but it crashes the coffin inside revealing himself as the dead body.
Isak wakes up and immediately packs his things to take a road trip and informs his long suffering maid Agda (Jullan Kindahl) and is accompanied by his daughter-in-law Marianne (Ingrid Thulin). The reason is made clear why Marianne is living with him,she is having problems with his son who is a mirror of himself. She also reminds him of the loan his son owed to him that's why she is alone most of the time because her husband had to work full time to repay the debt. Marianne knew what the audience didn't know, Isak in her own words is "ruthless" and "selfish" which means that he is a total jerk to most people he knows.
They pass by an old house by the woods where he used to spend his summers with his family, here we are transported in another time showing the family that he once had and the household he grew up in. Here we see the first glimpse of his cousin Sara (Bibi Andersson), the woman he loved who is also attracted to his brother Sigfrid. He kisses her while picking the Wild Strawberries on the ground, we see that even though they were "engaged" she implies that Isak is too tame for her and she is clearly more attracted to the audacious Sigfrid.
He then meets a young girl also named Sara (played by the same actress) accompanied by 2 young men fighting for her affection. It is implied that the 2 boys fighting over the younger Sara is a sort of symbolism, a raging emotion that Isak feels against his brother over his cousin Sara as he now remembers.
As they went along the trip they almost collided with a BV Bug driven by a director and his wife, no one was harmed but the car was badly damaged. Since there was no other way to fix the BV, they invited the couple ride to ride with them.
The 2 bickering couple this time represents the relationship that Marianne has with Isak's son Evald (Gunnar Björnstrand) who does not want to have a child with her to avoid responsibility.
The film is basically archetypal Bergman full of symbolisms and strange out of body dreams and sequences that explains the characters history. This film's journey provides answers to every riddle of the characters mental state and being that it clearly shows why this seemingly harmless old man is despised by everyone even by his own wife who cheated on him years ago. It is implied that he was trying to make amends at the end of the film, trying talk some sense to his son who clearly hates him.
The purpose of this is to show that it is not too late to change things even if we are at the end of the road in our lives. Bergman did made us see that Isak was a decent man despite his coldness when he was greeted warmly by the gas station attendant (Max von Sydow) but his only flaw was he did not show love to the people he cared most about. The simplicity of the story makes it all the more melancholic because Isak cannot change what has happened in his life anymore even if it looks like the flashbacks are within his reach. He's only watching it but not reliving the past, his only hope is to change for the present to make the most of his remaining life.
Grade: A+
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