#Björn Bjelfvenstam

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"Kvinnors väntan" (1952) - Ingmar Bergman

(Eng. title: "Waiting Women"/"Secrets of Women")

Films I've watched in 2024 (5/?)

[filmpalette]

Smultronstället (1957) dir. Ingmar Bergman  

[byneddiedingo]

Ingrid Thulin and Victor Sjöström in Wild Strawberries (Ingmar Bergman, 1957)

Cast: Victor Sjöström, Ingrid Thulin, Bibi Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrom, Jullan Kindahl, Folke Sundquist, Björn Bjelfvenstam, Naima Wilfstrand, Gunnel Broström, Gunnar Sjöberg, Max von Sydiow, Ann-Marie Wiman, Gertrud Fridh, Åke Fridell. Screenplay: Ingmar Bergman. Cinematography: Gunnar Fischer. Production design: Gittan Gustafsson. Film editing: Oscar Rosander. Music: Erik Nordgren.

The portrait of old age in Wild Strawberries was created by a writer-director who was 39, which is about the right time for someone to become obsessed with the past and with the portents of dreams. In the film, Isak Borg (Victor Sjöström) is 78, and by that time most of us have come to terms with the past and made sense of (or perhaps just accepted as a given) the memories and dreams that persist in haunting us. But although Bergman's film, one of the handful of breakthrough films he made in the mid-1950s, may not ring entirely true psychologically, it holds up thematically. Isak Borg is about to be commemorated with an honorary degree, one that stamps him as over the hill, and it's not surprising that it forces him to reflections about the course of his life. He is not about to go gentle into a night that he thinks of as neither good nor bad, but the journey he takes during the film -- this is an Ingmar Bergman "road movie," after all -- helps him decide to accept his life, mistakes and all. The brilliantly crabby performance by Sjöström holds it all together, even though the movie occasionally misfires: The squabbling young hitchhikers Anders (Folke Sundquist) and Viktor (Björn Bjelfenstam), who come to blows over religious faith, could almost be a self-parody of Bergman's own obsession, which would play itself out in his "trilogy of faith," Through a Glass Darkly (1961), Winter Light (1963), and The Silence (1963). And the dream sequence in which Borg sees his late wife (Gertrud Fridh) and her lover (Åke Fridell) adds little to our understanding of the character. It's also possible to find the reconciliation of Borg's son (Gunnar Björnstrand) and daughter-in-law (Ingrid Thulin) a little too easily achieved, as if thrown in as a correlative to Borg's own affirmation. The radiant performance of Bibi Andersson in the double role of Borg's cousin Sara and the young hitchhiker who shares her name, however, almost brings the film into convincing focus. I don't think Wild Strawberries is a masterpiece, but it's certainly one of the essential films in the Bergman oeuvre.

[ozu-teapot]

Smultronstället (AKA Wild Strawberries) | Ingmar Bergman | 1957

[whitewaterpaper]

Ryttare i Blått (1959) [PdH#03] [SE]

Jodå. SVT fortsätter bjuda på Hillman-thrillers, och jag fortsätter se dem.

¡Oi! Spoilers, stavfel och alternativa fakta kan förekomma rakt föröver!

John Hillman reser till England för att bistå Scotland Yard med sina kunskaper (bisarrt vad de skulle behöva en svensk privatdetektiv till) och hans fru Kajsa reser till Strömsholm för en kurs med Blå Stjärnan (en frivillig försvarsorganisation med specialisering på djur). Så det blir upp till Freddie och att hålla ställningarna på kontoret. Dvs, han skall svara i telefonen och säga nej till alla uppdrag, och ungefär i den ordningen. Det går sådär. När en kvinna ringer in om ett mord där liket försvann beger han sig åstad. Till Strömsholm. Där en mystisk ryttare hemsöker ängarna...

Den här filmen har ett stort problem: Freddy Sjöström (Nils Hallberg). Han tar för stor plats och bidrar med på tok för lite. Han funkade lite som comic relief i "Damen i Svart" där han inte är lika framträdande. Här står det klart att han är puckad, inkompetent och inte rolig för fem öre. Att John Hillman nästan inte förekommer i filmen, funkar förvånansvärt bra. Kajsa Hillman (Annalisa Ericson) klarar sig bra på egen hand och bär upp filmen förvånansvärt bra. Synd att man på manusstadiet inte vågade lita på det och gav Freddie en sådan framträdande roll. Som deckarmysterium är det här en spretig och tämligen oinspirerad historia. Mycket av handlingen spolieras av det faktum att Git Malmström (Gio Petré) så uppenbart är inblandad på något vis, det blir liksom lite för uppenbart när hon står och hånler i skuggorna i tid och otid. Och om det är en brist i regin eller ett medvetet val är svårt att säga. Hennes djupa agg mot Kerstin Renman (Mona Malm) är lite svår att förstå den med... Speciellt sedan hon uppenbart valt någon annan än Gits span Henrik. Men stalkers arbetar sällan efter oss dödligas logik.

Vi får se Björn "Dynamit-Harry" Gustavsson glimta förbi i en liten roll igen, denna gång polisen Boman. Ser i rollistan dessutom att Sven Wollter spelar pressfotograf. Kul.

Länkar:

Filmen @ Vodeville.

Filmen @ SVT Play. 🆓 (Kan ses till 26.12.2019).

Filmen @ IMDb.

Svenska Blå Stjärnan @ Wikipedia.

Damen i Svart @ White Water Paper.

Mannekäng i Rött @ White Water Paper.

[genevieveetguy]

- Sleep well? - Yes, but recently I've had the weirdest dreams, as if I must tell myself something I won't listen to when I'm awake. - What's that? - That I'm dead. Although I'm alive.

Wild Strawberries (Smultronstället), Ingmar Bergman (1957)

[stuckonoldmovies]

Harriet Andersson and  Björn Bjelfvenstam - Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)

[hardbirdparadise-blog]

Story With Feelings

Image: https://letterboxd.com/film/wild-strawberries/

Wild Strawberries (1957)

Director: Ingmar Bergman

Full Cast:

·         Victor Sjöström

·         Bibi Andersson

·         Ingrid Thulin

·         Gunnar Björnstrand

·         Jullan Kindahl

·         Folke Sundquist

·         Björn Bjelfvenstam

·         Naima Wifstrand

Note, this is not the full cast within the film Wild Strawberries (1957)

Genre: Romace, Drama, Art

Ernst Ingmar Bergman was a director who made over sixty film where he directed, wrote or produced or even all of the above. In a few articles and reviews he is considered to be a very influential filmmaker that achieved “film as art” to a wide variety of audiences. It is also said that he is one of the few directors that had a substantial impact of the films he made in his vision, meaning that he was a man who took the Auteur theory to the next level. Which means that the director does indeed have the most artistic say within a film.

I felt his story. The film Wild Strawberries (1957) spoke in such a calm and even tone. Its ups and downs felt surprisingly effective in other ways than other films achieve. Within this film he uses flash backs and dreams to depict the main character’s thoughts and fears. A life of an old man who wonders the past and question the outcome of his life. Ingmar visualises this beautifully, by making us part of the main character’s visions, but by doing this we not only see the projections of the man’s thoughts but feel with the character.

In one scene the main character sits in a car with his son’s wife, outside three other characters sings to what wonderful man he is, when they stop cheering, he immediately shrugs within the seat and without a word of dialogue, we can assume what he’s thinking. In that particular scene he excludes the world and the main character sits in an empty void.

This film deserves at least a seven out of ten. The director said that no other artistic medium enters our feeling down to the darkest areas as film does, and definitely proves his statement within this film.

   Words: 301

[movieposteroftheday]

1956 French poster for SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT (Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 1955)

Artist: Jacques Bonneau

Poster source: Heritage Auctions

[ozu-teapot]

Smultronstället (AKA Wild Strawberries) | Ingmar Bergman | 1957

Victor Sjöström, Gunnar Sjöberg, Björn Bjelfvenstam, Folke Sundquist, Bibi Andersson, Gunnel Broström

[genevieveetguy]

I can tolerate my wife's infidelity, but if anyone touches my mistress, I become a tiger.

Smiles of a Summer Night (Sommarnattens leende),  Ingmar Bergman (1955)

[stuckonoldmovies]

Harriet Andersson and  Björn Bjelfvenstam - Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)

[ozu-teapot]

Sommarnattens Leende (Smiles of a Summer Night) | Ingmar Bergman | 1955

[ozu-teapot]

Sommarnattens Leende (Smiles of a Summer Night) | Ingmar Bergman | 1955

Harriet Andersson, Björn Bjelfvenstam