Wild Strawberries - Reaction

Ingmar Bergman's thoughtful film about an old man's meditation on loneliness, selfishness, emotional unavailability, and death. Basically, it's what one old professor sees, thinks, remembers, and dreams (yes, it has Bergman's typical weird dream sequences) while packing for and going on a road trip (a trip down memory lane?). Although it mostly deals with regrets about living a solitary life, it also has a number of other themes:

• the relationship between youth, spontaneity, age, and maturity
• rationality and the question of the existence of god
• family relationships and marriage, including marriages without love, and caring without marriage
• the fear one will be discovered to not know anything / be a fraud

The somewhat redeeming ending is happier than one might expected, especially for a foreign film.

The audio commentary, done by a film critic, is great, putting the film in the context of Bergman's life and his other films, and commenting on the symbolism. It's better than 95% of the commentary tracks done by directors.

The DVD also contains an interesting interview with Bergman done by another film critic. I particularly liked the discussion of Bergman's writing process, of the symbolism in this movie (and Bergman's others), and of Bergman's life, sorrows, rituals, and personal demons and how Wild Strawberries reflects them. Bergman's a solitary man: "generally speaking, chatter is an abomination." Perhaps this movie foreshadows his later experiences?