Les Fraises sauvages

Original title: Smultronstället

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

After living a life marked by coldness, an aging professor is forced to confront the emptiness of his existence.After living a life marked by coldness, an aging professor is forced to confront the emptiness of his existence.After living a life marked by coldness, an aging professor is forced to confront the emptiness of his existence.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.1/10

120K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Top rated movie #210

Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 16 wins & 4 nominations total

User reviews239

Featured review

One of Bergman's greatest achievements

Wild Strawberries can be praised for so many reasons, but chief among them in my own mind is the way in which the film so perfectly conveys its themes of self-examination and the contemplation of one's own mortality (particularly through its stunning use of flashbacks). Bergman's autobiographical story also benefits from the brilliant casting of Swedish film legend Victor Sjostrom as Isak Borg, whose towering performance is essential to the success of Wild Strawberries. I read that Bergman based the coffin dream sequence on a frequent nightmare that he had -- and it never ceases to amaze me just how effective it remains even after all these years. Wild Strawberries seems like a quiet, thoughtful, introsepective movie -- and it is; it is also one of world cinema's most impressive motion pictures.

pooch-8
Feb 15, 1999
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Trivia
According to the Swedish DVD release (which contains an introductory interview with Bergman himself), Ingmar Bergman wrote the movie with Victor Sjöström in mind. He and the production company agreed that there would be no movie without Sjöström. Bergman didn't dare to call his idol Sjöström himself about the movie though, so the head of the production company made the call. Sjöström was initially reluctant, due to his advanced age, but agreed to meet with Bergman to discuss the movie. So Bergman went to his apartment and talked about it, Sjöström said he'll think about it. The next morning Sjöström called and agreed to the part on one condition: that he would be able to come home and have his whiskey grog at 5 pm every day.

Goofs
It has been included as a continuity error that Marianne says she is going to go swimming at the old house, but when she returns her hair does not appear to be wet. This is not a continuity error, because when the film was shot in the late 1950s, and for at least a decade afterwards, at least in the Nordic countries women gathered their hair up and covered it with a special swimming cap to protect their hair from becoming wet. Some women who had grown up during those times used swimming caps as late as the 1980s, because they had grown up with the custom, and a swimming cap was to them just as integral part of swimming attire as a swimming suit.

Quotes
Dr. Evald Borg: It's absurd to bring children into this world and think they'll be better off than we were.
Marianne Borg: That's just an excuse.
Dr. Evald Borg: Call it what you want. I was an unwanted child in a hellish marriage.