

The couple reminds Isak of his own unhappy marriage. The pair exchanges such terrible vitriol and venom that Marianne stops the car and demands that they leave. Next Isak and Marianne pick up an embittered middle-aged couple, the Almans, whose vehicle had nearly collided with theirs. The first group remains with him throughout his journey. He reminisces about his childhood at the seaside and his sweetheart Sara, with whom he remembered gathering strawberries, but who instead married his brother. Sara is a double for the love of Isak's youth. The first group consists of two young men and their companion, a woman named Sara who is adored by both men. He meets a series of hitchhikers, each of whom sets off dreams or reveries into Borg's troubled past. He is accompanied by his pregnant daughter-in-law Marianne who does not much like her father-in-law and is planning to separate from her husband, Evald, Isak's only son, who does not want her to have the baby, their first.ĭuring the trip, Isak is forced by nightmares, daydreams, old age, and impending death to reevaluate his life. He sets out on a long car ride from Stockholm to Lund to be awarded the degree of Doctor Jubilaris 50 years after he received his doctorate from Lund University. Before specializing, he served as a general practitioner in rural Sweden. Grouchy, stubborn, and egotistical Professor Isak Borg is a widowed 78-year-old physician who specialized in bacteriology.

It is often considered to be Bergman's greatest and most moving film and one of the greatest films ever made.

Exploring philosophical themes such as introspection and human existence, Wild Strawberries received wide positive domestic reception upon release, and won the Golden Bear for Best Film at the 8th Berlin International Film Festival. Max von Sydow also appears in a small role.īergman wrote the screenplay while hospitalized. The cast includes Victor Sjöström in his final screen performance as an old man recalling his past, as well as Bergman regulars Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, and Gunnar Björnstrand. The original Swedish title is Smultronstället, which literally means "the wild strawberry patch" but idiomatically signifies a hidden gem of a place, often with personal or sentimental value, and not widely known.

Wild Strawberries is a 1957 Swedish drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman.
