#0000A/#613: BERGMAN, Ingmar: Summer Interlude (1951)

BERGMAN, Ingmar (Sweden)

Summer Interlude [1951]

Spine #0000A/Spine #613

Blu-ray

2012 synopsis

Touching on many of the themes that would define the rest of his legendary career — isolation, performance, the inescapability of the past — Ingmar Bergman's tenth film was a gentle drift toward true mastery. In one of the director's great early female roles, Maj-Britt Nilsson beguiles as an accomplished ballet dancer haunted by her tragic youthful affair with a shy, handsome student (Birger Malmsten). Her memories of the sunny, rocky shores of Stockholm's outer archipelago mingle with scenes from her gloomy present, most of them set in the dark backstage environs of the theater where she works. A film that the director considered a creative turning point, Summer Interlude (Sommarlek) is a reverie about life and death that unites Bergman's love of theater and cinema.

2018 synopsis

Touching on many of the themes that would define the rest of his legendary career — isolation, performance, the inescapability of the past — Bergman's tenth film was a gentle drift toward true mastery. Maj-Britt Nilsson beguiles as an accomplished ballet dancer haunted by her tragic youthful affair with a shy, handsome student (Birger Malmsten). Her memories of the sunny, rocky shores of Stockholm's outer archipelago mingle with scenes from her gloomy present at the theater where she performs. A film that the director considered a creative turning point, Summer Interlude is a reverie about life and death that unites Bergman's love of theater and cinema.

96 minutes
Black & White

Monaural

in Swedish

1:37:1 aspect ratio

Criterion Release 2012/2018

Director/Writers

Original story by Ingmar Bergman.

Screenplay by Bergman and Herbert Grevenius.

Bergman was 33 when he directed Summer Interlude.

Other Bergman films in the Collection:

#0000A/Eclipse Series 1: Crisis (1946)
#0000A/Eclipse Series 1: Ship To India (1947)

#0000A/Eclipse Series 1: Port Of Call (1948)
#0000A/Eclipse Series 1: Thirst (1949)
#0000A/Eclipse Series 1: To Joy (1949)
#0000A: Waiting Women (1952)
#0000A/#614: Summer With Monika (1953)
#0000A/#412: Sawdust And Tinsel (1953)
#0000A: A Lesson In Love (1954)
#0000A/#237: Smiles Of A Summer Night (1955)
#0000A: Dreams (1955)
#0000A/#11: The Seventh Seal (1957)
#0000A/#139: Wild Strawberries (1957)
#0000A/#537: The Magician (1958)
#0000A: Brink Of Life (1958)
#0000A/#321: The Virgin Spring (1960)
#0000A: The Devil's Eye (1960)
#0000A/#209: Through A Glass Darkly (1961)
#0000A/#210: Winter Light (1962)
#0000A/#211: The Silence (1963)
#0000A: All These Women (1964)
#0000A/#701: Persona (1966)
#0000A/#961: Shame (1968)
#0000A: Hour Of The Wolf (1968)
#0000A: The Passion Of Anna (1969)
#0000A: The Rite (1969)
#0000A: Fårö Document [1970)

#0000A: The Touch (1971)
#0000A/#101: Cries And Whispers (1972)
#0000A/#229: Scenes From A Marriage (1973)
#0000A/#71: The Magic Flute (1975)
#0000A: The Serpent's Egg (1977)
#0000A/#60: Autumn Sonata (1978)
#0000A: Fårö Document 1979 (1979)

#0000A: From The Life Of Marionettes (1980)
#0000A/#262: Fanny And Alexander -- The Television Version (1982)
#0000A/#263: Fanny And Alexander -- The Theatrical Version (1982)
#0000A/#264: The Making Of Fanny And Alexander (1982)
#0000A: After The Rehearsal (1984)
#0000A: Saraband (2003)

The Film

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

#0000A: 250-page book.

#613: Twenty-page booklet featuring an essay by film scholar Peter Cowie.

Commentary

None.

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

99

By Director
By Spine #