This is the first and only Ingmar Bergman movie I have seen and you can see why he commands such great respect in the world of films. This movie is in Swedish. It was made in 1957 and is one of the showcase films of that era.
The story is about this old man called Proffesor Isak Borg (Victor Sjostrom - whos a veteran Swedish Director himself - he is just amazing). The movie starts with a nightmare. Proffesor Isak sees his own death. He wakes up sweating and immediately starts packing for his journey. He is supposed to go to Lund from Stockholm to get an honourary degree from Lund University. He is an impossible man, who everyone fear. He's also alone. He travles with his daughter in law who loathes him. During the journey he meets a quarreling couple, a girl travelling with her fiance and another guy who loves him. They tag along. Prof. Isak in between goes to his childhood home and also to meet his mother.
During the relationships he dreams and hallucinates about many incidents in his life. His introspection brings him happiness and grief. He dreams of the girl he loved, about his wife and defining moments in his life. I think he wonders what if something was different. How his life would have turned out. This sour old man at the twilight of his life looks back and wonders if its too late to change. In the fellow passengers he sees his life. He realises how he had pushed everyone in his life away from himself. Even his wife.
Bergman uses his camera like a palette and in that black and white motion picture you can almost see colour. This movie is not for everyone, certainly not for the masses. The picturisation gives it a weird dreamy look and the black and white hues give it a haunting one. I enjoyed this film, but more than that it somehow told me that there much more in life than to achieve self set goals and how lonely do you get when you are so self centred. You can call it an ART film, coz Bergman works like an artist.
No comments:
Post a Comment