# 151 Smultronstället (1957)

Smultronstället is a movie by Ingmar Bergman about an elderly physician who travels to another city to receive an honorary degree fifty years after becoming a doctor. Throughout the whole film we see his dreams (most of them are nightmares) that touch on though-provoking subjects, such as human existance, death, and loneliness.

I apologize for saying that, but I think that Bergman was a very weird man. I've only seen a couple of his films, but Cries And Whispers (aka Viskningar och rop), a movie that I had to watch and review for my Ethics class in college, totally creeped me out. So I wasn't expecting to like any of this film, but, to my own surprize, I found parts of it quite enjoyable.

My favorite part was the dream in which the main character is in classroom, taking an exam. He looks into a microscope and sees nothing. He reads the text from the blackboard, but cannot comprehend it. I've seen this in my nightmares so many times! I know there's a deeper meaning to this scene, but it struck me how accurately Bergman showed people's fears in the movie.

But it's not all pessimism. During the trip the main character meets a variety of people, including a girl and two young men accompanying her, all of them being optimistic, fun-loving, and, in my opinion, they make a big impact on him. There are a lot of interesting ideas represented in this movie, so it's worth seeing at least once in a lifetime.

Favorite quote: "Me and my wife are dependent on each other. It is out of selfish reasons we haven't beaten each other to death a long time ago".

Interesting fact: Cinematographer Gunnar Fischer says that several scenes had to be shot indoors due to Victor Sjöström's poor health. "We had to make some very bad back-projection in the car because we never knew if Victor would come back alive the next day." Nevertheless, as long as Victor was home by 5:15 P.M. each day, "and had his whiskey punctually, all went well."