Wild Strawberries (1957)
8.095 /10
1745 Reviews
Rate This Movie:
Crotchety retired doctor Isak Borg travels from Stockholm to Lund, Sweden, with his pregnant and unhappy daughter-in-law, Marianne, in order to receive an honorary degree from his alma mater. Along the way, they encounter a series of hitchhikers, each of whom causes the elderly doctor to muse upon the pleasures and failures of his own life. These include the vivacious young Sara, a dead ringer for the doctor's own first love.
Videos & Photos
cast
... Professor Isak Borg
... Sara
... Marianne
... Evald
... Agda
User reviews
Bergman talks about the meaning of life and the pass of time.
Great cast, that will repeat in several of Bergman's movies and remarkable performances from Ingrid Thulin and Victor Sjöström.
Reviews of
Wild Strawberries
Bergman talks about the meaning of life and the pass of time.
Great cast, that will repeat in several of Bergman's movies and remarkable performances from Ingrid Thulin and Victor Sjöström.
There's a great scene near the start of this film that sees an horse-drawn hearse get it's wheel caught between the kerb and a lamp-post. The horses persist in moving forward, the wheel comes off and we have a coffin exposed in the middle of a deserted street. A passer-by approaches the coffin only to find it's occupant still alive - and, worse still, it's him! It's "Dr. Borg" (Victor Sjöström). Is it portentous? Well it made me smile anyway, as does quite a lot of this thought-provoking drama. It centres around this learned man who is to travel to Lund next day to receive a great honour for his services to the medical profession. In the middle of the night, he disturbs his no-nonsense housekeeper "Agda" (a charming effort from Julian Kindahl) announcing plans to drive from Stockholm rather than fly. She's irked and is having none of this nonsense, but she makes his breakfast and packs his case. It's at breakfast that his pregnant daughter-in-law "Marianne" (Ingrid Thulin) decides to invite herself along. En route, it becomes clear that she despises the old man, and her bluntness rather shocks him. He readily admits he's a pedantic old grouch, but somehow this cuts him to the quick. After a stop for some petrol at the garage of "Henrik" (Max Von Sydow), they pick up some hitch-hikers. Firstly, a group of young and enthusiastic people and then a squabbling couple who seem to thrive on being unpleasant to each other. As we travel, the journey and their companions start him reminiscing about his own life, about the mother of his son and about the joys and tragedies of his own life. It's only when he arrives for his ceremony that he begins to reassess his life, his perspectives and his priorities. Sjöström is super here. He really carries off the role in almost "Scrooge"-like fashion. He has taken the emotionally easy way out for much of his life and now finds himself in an unfulfilling cul-de-sac from which it not might be possible to escape. Thulin also delivers well as the deliberately provocative and seemingly unkind woman who spares him none of the knife. There is plenty of humour - dark and mischievous, and we take quite an interesting look at just how toxic introspection can be - at any age. As ever with this director, questions of religiosity and God are never far away, but here they are delivered in a manner than the characters address rather than having us to do that work - and that makes this a far more relaxed, if that word can be used about Ingmar Bergman - and gentle rummage through his theological baggage. The plot is busy and entertaining, and there are plenty of other characters enmeshed in the narrative that give us an opportunity to come up for a breather now and again, and I think this might be one of my favourites from this man.
Cast & Crew of
Wild Strawberries
Cast
... Professor Isak Borg
... Sara
... Marianne
... Evald
... Agda
... Anders
... Viktor
... Isak's Mother
... Mrs. Alman
... Karin, Isak's Wife
... Aunt Olga
... Alman
... Åkerman
... Wife's Lover
... Uncle Aron
... Sigfrid
... Sigbritt
... Charlotta
... Angelica
... Åkerman's Wife
... Anna
... Twin Kristina
... Twin Birgitta
... Hagbart (uncredited)
... The Manager (uncredited)
... Benjamin (uncredited)
... Sigbritt's Baby (uncredited)
... Elisabeth (uncredited)
... Isak's Father (uncredited)
... Conductor (uncredited)
... Professor Tiger (uncredited)
... Bishop (uncredited)
... (uncredited)
Crew
... Screenplay
... Director
... Production Design
... Costume Design
... Makeup Artist
... Original Music Composer
... Director of Photography
... Producer
... Sound Designer
... Original Music Composer
... Editor
... Still Photographer
... Location Manager
... First Assistant Camera
... Assistant Director
... Sound Mixer
... Sound Designer
... Script Supervisor
... Property Master
Videos & Photos of
Wild Strawberries
Videos (2)
Photos 30
Similar Movies To
Wild Strawberries
Safe Space (2025)
5.5/10
Three couples and a lonely friend visit an isolated escape room in the middle of the desert run by a mysterious Ukrainian performance artist.
Release: 2025-07-11
Belle de Jour (1967)
7.3/10
Beautiful young housewife Séverine Serizy cannot reconcile her masochistic fantasies with her everyday life alongside dutiful husband Pierre. When her lovestruck friend Henri mentions a secretive high-class brothel run by Madame Anais, Séverine begins to work there during the day under the name Belle de Jour. But when one of her clients grows possessive, she must try to go back to her normal life.
Release: 1967-05-24
On the Waterfront (1954)
7.9/10
A prizefighter-turned-longshoreman with a conscience goes up against labor leaders to expose corruption, extortion, and murder among the union ranks.
Release: 1954-06-22
Paris, Texas (1984)
8.1/10
A man wanders out of the desert not knowing who he is. His brother finds him, and helps to pull his memory back of the life he led before he walked out on his family and disappeared four years earlier.
Release: 1984-07-16
The Tin Drum (1979)
6.933/10
In 1924, Oskar Matzerath is born in the Free City of Danzig. At age three, he falls down a flight of stairs and stops growing. In 1939, World War II breaks out.
Release: 1979-05-02
The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
7.355/10
Maria marries a young soldier in the last days of World War II, only for him to go missing in the war. She must rely on her beauty and ambition to navigate the difficult post-war years alone.
Release: 1979-03-23
The Bridges of Madison County (1995)
7.709/10
Photographer Robert Kincaid wanders into the life of housewife Francesca Johnson for four days in the 1960s.
Release: 1995-06-02
Short Cuts (1993)
7.2/10
Many loosely connected characters cross paths in this film, based on the stories of Raymond Carver. Waitress Doreen Piggot accidentally runs into a boy with her car. Soon after walking away, the child lapses into a coma. While at the hospital, the boy's grandfather tells his son, Howard, about his past affairs. Meanwhile, a baker starts harassing the family when they fail to pick up the boy's birthday cake.
Release: 1993-10-01
Manhattan (1979)
7.718/10
Manhattan explores how the life of a middle-aged television writer dating a teenage girl is further complicated when he falls in love with his best friend's mistress.
Release: 1979-04-25
All About Eve (1950)
8.1/10
From the moment she glimpses her idol at the stage door, Eve Harrington is determined to take the reins of power away from the great actress Margo Channing. Eve maneuvers her way into Margo's Broadway role, becomes a sensation and even causes turmoil in the lives of Margo's director boyfriend, her playwright and his wife. Only the cynical drama critic sees through Eve, admiring her audacity and perfect pattern of deceit.
Release: 1950-11-09
Effi Briest (1974)
6.6/10
When 17-year-old Effi Briest marries the elderly Baron von Instetten, she moves to a small, isolated Baltic town and a house that she fears is haunted. Starved for companionship, Effi begins a friendship with Major Crampas, a charismatic womanizer.
Release: 1974-06-20
Finding Forrester (2000)
7.118/10
Gus Van Sant tells the story of a young African American man named Jamal who confronts his talents while living on the streets of the Bronx. He accidentally runs into an old writer named Forrester who discovers his passion for writing. With help from his new mentor Jamal receives a scholarship to a private school.
Release: 2000-12-21
The Piano (1993)
7.382/10
When an arranged marriage brings Ada and her spirited daughter to the wilderness of nineteenth-century New Zealand, she finds herself locked in a battle of wills with both her controlling husband and a rugged frontiersman to whom she develops a forbidden attraction.
Release: 1993-05-18
The Sixth Sense (1999)
7.947/10
Following an unexpected tragedy, child psychologist Malcolm Crowe meets a nine year old boy named Cole Sear, who is hiding a dark secret.
Release: 1999-08-06
Faces (1968)
7.1/10
Middle-aged suburban husband Richard abruptly tells his wife, Maria, that he wants a divorce. As Richard takes up with a younger woman, Maria enjoys a night on the town with her friends and meets a younger man. As the couple and those around them confront a seemingly futile search for what they've lost -- love, excitement, passion -- this classic American independent film explores themes of aging and alienation.
Release: 1968-11-24
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
8.092/10
Joel Barish, heartbroken that his girlfriend underwent a procedure to erase him from her memory, decides to do the same. However, as he watches his memories of her fade away, he realises that he still loves her, and may be too late to correct his mistake.
Release: 2004-03-19
Amores Perros (2000)
7.628/10
A fatalistic car crash in Mexico city sets off a chain of events in the lives of three people: a supermodel, a young man wanting to run off with his sister-in-law, and a homeless man. Their lives are catapulted into unforeseen situations instigated by the seemingly inconsequential destiny of a dog.
Release: 2000-06-16
A History of Violence (2005)
7.158/10
An average family is thrust into the spotlight after the father commits a seemingly self-defense murder at his diner.
Release: 2005-09-23
Walk the Line (2005)
7.498/10
A chronicle of country music legend Johnny Cash's life, from his early days on an Arkansas cotton farm to his rise to fame with Sun Records in Memphis, where he recorded alongside Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.
Release: 2005-09-13
Before Sunrise (1995)
7.971/10
An unexpected meeting on a train leads two travelers to spend an evening wandering through Vienna. As the night unfolds, they share stories and conversations about life and love, exploring new ideas while a quiet intimacy grows between them, knowing it may be their only night together.
Release: 1995-01-27