Author Topic: Filmspotter Marathon - Bergman - Wild Strawberries (spoilers!!!)  (Read 11766 times)

chesterfilms

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Let the discussion begin!
What? What are you talking about? It's girls and spaghetti. We love girls and spaghetti.

facedad

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Re: Filmspotter Marathon - Bergman - Wild Strawberries (spoilers!!!)
« Reply #1 on: April 26, 2007, 11:50:22 PM »
Fabulous. It's a 10. I wish I could gush like Leonard Maltin can so I could fully express how much I enjoyed it.
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facedad

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Re: Filmspotter Marathon - Bergman - Wild Strawberries (spoilers!!!)
« Reply #2 on: April 26, 2007, 11:53:22 PM »
Should I wait for the general opinions of others, or just launch into minutiae straight away?
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chesterfilms

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Re: Filmspotter Marathon - Bergman - Wild Strawberries (spoilers!!!)
« Reply #3 on: April 27, 2007, 12:04:56 AM »
Go ahead! I figure we can all post when we are ready.
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facedad

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Re: Filmspotter Marathon - Bergman - Wild Strawberries (spoilers!!!)
« Reply #4 on: April 27, 2007, 12:15:51 AM »
Well, while it's all fantastic, I was particularly struck by his portrayal of dream sequences. The opening dream, in the town with the clock with no hands, was particularly masterful. What I'd like to point out is when carriage hearse gets stuck and begins to rock and creak, you see the face of an infant/cherub adorning the top of the back opening. After seeing it the creaking is heard which sounds remarkably like a baby (I forget if it was like crying or babbling) and the hearse rocks as a cradle before dumping Isak's doppleganger corpse. I was astonished by how striking this was and by the way in which it seemed to encapsulate the entirety of the life struggle that he will deal with in this one short moment. It places him as a man that realizes that he has wasted the time he has spent from birth in a kind of frustration leading him to this living death and all to soon actual death. I thought it made his journey all the more poignant.
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OskarS

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Re: Filmspotter Marathon - Bergman - Wild Strawberries (spoilers!!!)
« Reply #5 on: April 27, 2007, 04:47:04 AM »
It's an absolutely fantastic movie. I've seen it twice before I saw it again for this marathon, and every time I sit in awe of Bergman.

One of the things that I find most fascinating about this movie is its razor-sharp insight into the Swedish soul. The different characters that appear, even very briefly, portray the many facets (and pathologies) of Swedish life. The querulous and deeply unhappy couple, for instance, are part of the deep dark underbelly of the Swedish psyche, a part that we would like to ignore but deep down know is all to common. They are exaggerated, of course, but their relationship is something that most Swedes can relate to.

The portrayal of the different women is also stunning. We Swedes are very proud of our struggle for equality and our strong women, and the movie shows that in many different ways. Young Sara is independent and free in all the same ways as her male friends. Marianne is compassionate, yet strong enough not to diminish herself to her father-in-law or even her husband. Isak's mother is forceful and even cruel to her own son. What I think Bergman does better than anybody is to weigh what is good about Sweden, but also portray the other side of the coin, the deeply disturbing things that it leads to. Evald and Marianne loves each other deeply, but because Evald was raised in a deeply bitter household (containing another forceful woman and an egotistical man), he could never treat be happy in his marriage. And because Marianne cannot subjugate herself to him, she will also never be happy. Their child will grow up in the same environment Evald grew up in, and so the cycle will repeat itself over and over again. Again, the querulous couple shows an all to real portrait of their future, one that Marianne would like to ignore.

I realise that this is sort-of an unfair point to bring up to a non-Swedish group of people, but that is one of the things that resonates hardest with me in this movie. Anyway, it's a masterpiece, there is no two ways about it.
Twelfth Night was really the Norbit of early 17th century England.

facedad

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Re: Filmspotter Marathon - Bergman - Wild Strawberries (spoilers!!!)
« Reply #6 on: April 27, 2007, 07:39:08 AM »
I realise that this is sort-of an unfair point to bring up to a non-Swedish group of people, but that is one of the things that resonates hardest with me in this movie. Anyway, it's a masterpiece, there is no two ways about it.

I wouldn't say it's entirely unfailr. While certain aspects of it may be particularly Swedish, I would wager that for the most part, you can find these archetypes in American society, or at least similar ones. That's part of its power, is how universal is can be.
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Kevin Shields

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Re: Filmspotter Marathon - Bergman - Wild Strawberries (spoilers!!!)
« Reply #7 on: April 27, 2007, 02:08:43 PM »
Can I just say that Ingrid Thulin is gorgeously beautiful?

I really liked this film.  It was well paced.  It was entertaining.  I really loved the character of Isak.  I also liked Bibi Andersson in the dual roles of Sara.  I liked her more as the modern-day Sara who tells Isak that she's the love of his life. 
"I want to be bored"-Maggie Gyllenhaal

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Re: Filmspotter Marathon - Bergman - Wild Strawberries (spoilers!!!)
« Reply #8 on: April 27, 2007, 10:10:16 PM »
I hope this gets a little more action soon. I could say more about the film, but I really want to hear what others have to say.
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OskarS

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Re: Filmspotter Marathon - Bergman - Wild Strawberries (spoilers!!!)
« Reply #9 on: April 28, 2007, 03:00:29 AM »
I hope this gets a little more action soon. I could say more about the film, but I really want to hear what others have to say.

Yeah, I agree that the discussion has kinda died down. How about this: when people need to discuss books, there are often those annoying Topics for Discussion of the fancy-schmancy editions. You know what I mean? Those really artsy and pretentious questions? I suggest we take that concept and do our own little Filmspotting Boards Questions and Answers twist on it. Someone asks something, someone answers, discussion ensue, and then someone asks something else, and so on and so forth. How does that sound? Does someone want to kick it off, or should I?
Twelfth Night was really the Norbit of early 17th century England.