Wild Strawberries

UPC: 715515032421

Studio: Criterion

MPAA Rating: NR   Contains:[Adult Situations, Questionable for Children]

Summary: After exploring his disillusionment with religion in his previous films, Ingmar Bergman adopted a humanistic approach for this classic study in isolationism. Legendary Scandinavian director Victor Sj?str?m stars as Isak Borg, an aging medical professor who reassesses his life while journeying to his former university to receive an honorary degree. Borg travels with his estranged daughter-in-law Marianne (Ingrid Thulin) and revisits many of the landmarks of his past, conjuring up memories of his family and of his onetime sweetheart Sara (Bibi Andersson). Returning to the present, he meets a teenage girl who resembles the long-departed Sara. She hitches a ride with the professor and Marianne, as do a ceaselessly bickering married couple. These new characters eventually become intertwined with Borg's hazy flashbacks and fantasies, as the old man recalls the disappointments and disillusionments that have left him cold and guilt-ridden, attributes emphasized when he encounters his equally cold and resentful son. Bookending Borg's odyssey of self-discovery are a series of symbolic images at the beginning of the film (a clock without hands, a man without a face) and a hauntingly beautiful finale, in which professor is beckoned back to the "perfect" world he left behind so many years earlier. This classic art movie remains one of Bergman's most accessible films and one of the most influential European art movies of its generation. Its intense focus on one man's thoughts, regrets, and memories set the tone for innumerable psychological character studies in its wake. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Best Film - Any Source – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Foreign Film – null Best Original Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Golden Bear – Berlin International Film Festival Best Foreign Film – National Board of Review Best Actor – National Board of Review Best Foreign Film – Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Wild Strawberries

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 09/09/2008

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Pre-1954 Standard

Runtime: 91 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Subtitles: English

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Wild Strawberries
1. Isak Borg [2:18]
2. Opening Credits [1:13]
3. A Weird Dream [4:33]
4. Change of Plans [5:03]
5. A Revealing Ride [4:33]
6. Wild Strawberries [6:57]
7. Family Meal [3:31]
8. Tears and Song [2:51]
9. Sara, Anders and Viktor [3:08]
10. Hysteria and Catholicism [5:53]
11. Old Friends [2:51]
12. Philosophy and Lunch [3:01]
13. Visiting Mother [7:24]
14. Looking in the Mirror [5:24]
15. Examination [6:38]
16. Loneliness [5:30]
17. Evald and Marianne [4:13]
18. Marianne's Decision [3:14]
19. At Evald's [2:03]
20. The Ceremony [2:26]
21. No Intimacies [3:53]
22. Father and Son [2:03]
23. Childhood Memories [2:14]
1. Color Bars [:00]

Richard Gilliam

Smultronst?llet/Wild Strawberries is one of the masterpieces of world cinema, a key early representative of the European art films that would change how people thought about movies in the late 1950s and 1960s. While the film posits a frightening questioning of life, it ultimately offers hope and redemption to its aging protagonist, and ultimately to us all. Director Ingmar Bergman effectively alternates emotional warmth with coldness to create one of the screen's greatest philosophical character studies. His shot composition is remarkable, particularly his close-ups of legendary Swedish director Victor Sj?str?m, here playing the elderly professor. The film is full of masterful symbolic imagery and allegorical storytelling. Most important, Bergman makes his film accessible to the ordinary viewer. This is a warm and human film, strongly filled with a richness rarely experienced on screen. ~ Richard Gilliam, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Gertrud Fridh  Actor 
Per Sjöstrand  Actor 
Gunnel Broström  Actor 
Sif Ruud  Actor 
Goran Lundstrom  Actor 
Björn Bjelvenstam  Actor 
Yngve Nordwall  Actor 
Julian Kindahl  Actor 
Max von Sydow  Actor 
Åke Fridell  Actor 
Gunnar Sjöberg  Actor 
Gio Petre  Actor 
Maud Hansson  Actor 
Gunnel Lindblom  Actor 
Ingmar Bergman  Director 
Ingmar Bergman  Screenwriter 
Eric Nordgren  Composer (Music Score) 
Allan Ekelund  Producer 
Victor Sjöström  Actor 
Bibi Andersson  Actor 
Ingrid Thulin  Actor 
Gunnar Björnstrand  Actor 
Folke Sundquist  Actor 
Naima Wifstrand  Actor 

Country: Sweden