Chance's Corner: My Summer with Bergman

I don't have the time or the money to go on a real vacation (thanks student loans!), but I was able to squeeze in a cinematic vacation. A cinematic vacation? Yes, I took a vacation by watching some films, particularity films that exuded a summer vibe. Two of those films were directed by the Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, who is best known for The Seventh Seal, the film where the Grim Reaper plays chess, and Persona, a haunting examination of converging identities. However, for my cinematic vacation, I picked two films from earlier in his career, Summer with Monika and Summer Interlude. Here's how those two "trips" to the Stockholm archipelago went:

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Summer with Monika

I'm not sure why I expected a sunny coming of age film from Bergman. His films are usually cold, dark and weighty, and while young love does seem to blossom between teenagers Harry and Monika (Lars Ekborg and Harriet Andersson), things do take an icy turn. Honestly, it took me awhile to get interested in this film. I was about halfway into the second act when it finally clicked with me. I could sense something was happening - something that wasn't just about young love. It's disintegration, and I'm a sucker for disintegration à la Bergman. Love is peeled away to resemble something akin to only lust, and Monika is slowly revealed to be an absolute devil (and that's putting it nicely). Okay, maybe I'm being too harsh on her because I've rushed into feelings before, which ended in emotional turmoil, but I haven't screwed up this bad. Anyways, her future is not made clear, and neither is Harry's, but what is made clear is that they'll be carrying the emotional scars for a very long time.

Summer Interlude

Through a series of flashbacks, Summer Interlude takes us back to the Stockholm archipelago, where we're treated to the blossoming love between a different set of teenagers, Henrik (Birger Malmsten) AKA the Swedish Jack Palance and the ballerina Marie (Maj-Britt Nilsson). They spend every waking second together swimming, canoeing, eating wild strawberries, and kissing in front of Henrik's faithful dog Gruffman. Ah, young love - an almost unstoppable force. Almost. Bergman may be paying for the trip, but Henrik and Marie will end up paying the ultimate price. Why? That's life, apparently.

Summer Interlude is widely considered to be a turning point in Bergman's career - a point that hints at the themes of his later masterworks, which include isolation and the power of the past and memory. It's also considerably one of his warmer films, well... warm to a point. As the summer ends, the world grows cold, as does Marie, and Bergman's themes hit with full force in the third act. I can't help but feel that the third act carries on too long, though, especially when the clown/magician full of put-downs comes into play. Yes, there's a clown, and he's really a jerk! Despite the clown, Marie is able to come to terms with life and the past, and manages to find a bittersweet ending.
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And that was my summer with Bergman! It was kind of a miserable experience, but when Bergman makes you miserable, it's good?