☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Summer
Interlude (1951) – I. Bergman
Maj-Britt Nilsson stars as Marie, a star
ballet dancer, who receives a package that unsettles her on the eve of opening
night of a major performance. When a
power outage causes dress rehearsal to be called off, she takes the opportunity
to take a ferry to a nearby island where a flashback ensues. We see her younger and happier, beginning a
summer romance with Henrik (Birger Malmsten), a rather sullen young man whose
parents are divorced and who lives with an elderly and mean aunt. The cinematography here, by Gunnar Fischer,
is gorgeous and the feeling of summer (its radiance and peacefulness) shines
through. The young lovers spend an
idyllic couple of months on the island where he lives and she is staying with
her creepy lecherous Uncle Erland and sad neglected Aunt Elisabeth. As in other Ingmar Bergman films of this
period, the dialogue is fresh and frank, talking of sex but also about death,
god, relationships, culture, and the future.
As the summer ends, we learn why Marie has become lonely and bitter in
the future, despite her career success.
As we dip in and out of the flashback, Marie meets Uncle Erland on the
island, now both much older and we learn about the mysterious package and its
import. After she returns to Stockholm
(presumably), we see her with her new boyfriend, struggling to commit to him –
a legacy of those earlier days – but there may be hope for the future. Nilsson’s performance her is very strong –
her joy is infectious in the early days and her sadness later is palpable. Bergman’s investigation of memory as an
island that we visit that can haunt our present is a compelling metaphor. Recommended.
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