Wild Strawberries

1. Wild Strawberries

2. Directed and Written by Ingmar Bergman • Also directed The Seventh Seal • Made in 1957 • Victor Sjostrom stars as Dr. Borg • Also starred in The Phantom Carriage • Final screen appearance of this actor • Max Von Sydow stars as Henrik Akerman • Also starred in Minority Report • Bergman wrote script while in hospital • Actual title is Smultronstallet which means literally The Wild Strawberry Patch • Released same year as Seventh Seal, Bergmans most well known film.

3. Strawberries a huge symbol of fresh start • Woody Allen’s 1997 film Deconstructing Harry loosely based on this film. • Allen’s Another Woman also bears resemblance to this film • Won Golden Bear for best film at Berlin International Film Festival • Nominated for Academy Award for Original Screenplay • Made early in Bergman’s career • Included on Vatican’s Best Film list for portrayal of values.

4. Bergman had just finished three stage productions at Malmo City Theatre: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Erik XIV, and Peer Gynt • This is why he spent two months in hospital • “The truth is that I am forever living in my childhood.” – Ingmar Bergman • Movie idea evolved from idea of someone opening a door and walking into their childhood. • Many actors from Malmo City Theatre helped on production. • Producer Carl Anders Dymling thought of casting Sjostrom.

5. Influenced by August Strindberg, the famous theatricalist, specifically in his opening of his play A Dream Play. • This is the most widely imitated of Bergman’s films. • Peer Gynt similarities – Hero of the film takes stock of his life. • Heinrik Ibsen influence – About the living who are actually dead. • Dream sequence influenced by Sjostrom’s The Phantom Carriage. • Bergman’s relationship with his parents was bad which influenced the film.

6. Presentation of one and the same person represented as both old and young is a theme of Bergmans. • Dream sequence also influenced by art pieces such as Munch’s “Jealousy” and Larsson’s “Crayfishing.” • Filmed at Filmstaden Studios in Rasunda, just outside of Stockholm with a few scenes shot in small town of Gamla Stan and Univ. Square in Lund. • Sjostrom was 79 when filming began. • He had problems with his lines. • Bergman made actress Ingrid Thulin take blame for any of the actors mess ups • Had to leave by 4:30 in order to return home for his afternoon whiskey.

7. Cinematographer was Gunnar Fischer • Nightmare impacted by lighting effects that eradicated the gray scale of the black and white images. • They had to deal with a bare minimum amount of film. • Also used sun at it’s highest in the sky to increase harshness of the black and white. • During filming of carriage sans driver a group of revelers crossed into the shoot and immediately fell silent at the sight. • In the scene with the wifes infidelity there were supposed to be many snakes crawling around.

8. Snakes didn’t make it into the film because they had all escaped from a terrarium where they were being held, it was all by accident. • This is Bergman’s most successful as it won the most awards. • Described by Kersti French as the first road movie. • Pedro Almodovar, David Cronenberg and Tim Burton have made references to this film in their own masterpieces. • Dr. Borg modeled on his own father.

9. “About the phenomenon of old age wherein childhood memories return with ever-increasing clarity while great stretches of the prime of life vanish into obscurity.” – Peter Cowie • Cinematographer shot several scenes indoors as well as back-projected car scenes for Sjostrom’s sake. • Dummy in dream scene made of a balloon and a silk stocking. • All the walls in the dream scene were painted stark white.