Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		5.0

Wild Strawberries Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 31, 2023

Note: This version of this film is available on Blu-ray as part of Criterion's Ingmar Bergman's Cinema set.

It understandably may be well nigh impossible to choose an "all time greatest filmmaker" of the 20th century, if for no other reason than that personal tastes differ, but I can't imagine any "devoted cineaste" not having Ingmar Bergman at least near the top of their own aggregation. Criterion has been feting some iconic creative forces with expansive box set compendia of films, including Essential Fellini and The Complete Films of Agnès Varda, but in terms of overall offerings and packaging extras, Ingmar Bergman's Cinema may itself be sitting atop a list of finest Blu-ray collection offerings. Some of the films in this impressive collection have in fact had prior releases by Criterion, as should probably be expected, but there are a fair number making their Blu-ray debuts. As tends to be the case with Criterion releases, technical merits are also generally excellent, and the supplements can be very appealing.

Wild Strawberries remains one of the most iconic of all of Ingmar Bergman's films, and it is that rare kind of viewing experience that provides additional dividends when it's revisited. Bergman is on record (including on some supplements included on this very disc) as discounting the notion that because this film's focal character has the initials IB that he's supposed to be a thinly cloaked version of Bergman himself. Instead, if there's any "real life" analog to professor Isak Borg (Victor Sjöstrom), Bergman avers it's his own father, which may then beg a whole host of subsequent questions when considering the ins and outs of Borg's life that Wild Strawberries documents.

It's perhaps the impending death of the elderly Borg that actually suffuses the film with an undeniably elegiac tone. As Borg and his daughter-in-law Marianne (Ingrid Thulin) travel by car to attend an event honoring Borg, Borg is overcome both with the everyday tribulations of his current family life, which is somewhat in disarray, as well as memories of his childhood, in what in at least some ways may remind some viewers of Fellini's tour through his (?) childhood in 8½. The film is filled with surreal dream imagery as well as some luscious midsummer photography that eloquently recreates a rural existence in Sweden in the early part of the 20th century.

This disc more or less replicates Criterion's previous standalone Blu-ray, and for those wanting a more detailed plot recap, I recommend reading Svet Atanasov's Wild Strawberries Blu-ray review of that version.

Wild Strawberries Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Wild Strawberries is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.32. Criterion's kind of overwhelming insert book offers nice summations of each film's transfer attributes, and the relevant data points for this film are as follows:

Picture element: 35 mm original camera negative
Scanner: Arriscan
Transfer resolution: 2K
Transfer facility: Chimney Pot / Stockholm Sound element: 35 mm print
Picture restoration: SF Studios
Sound restoration: Criterion Post

A bit more technical information culled from Criterion's original insert booklet (which is not included with this version) is relayed by Svet in his Wild Strawberries Blu-ray review. This is a ravishing looking transfer with just a couple of momentary issues in things like optical dissolves where frame instability can be spotted. Otherwise, though, this offers really stunning detail levels (just take a look at Borg's skin in screenshot 6 for one good example), along with nicely consistent contrast that helps to bring Gunnar Fischer's gorgeous cinematography fully to life. As Peter Cowie mentions in his commentary, some of the dream material, notably the first rather frightening nightmare, have been garishly lit and perhaps had brightness boosted, which can make whites come pretty close to blooming territory (see screenshot 4). Grain is tightly resolved throughout, understandably spiking during some opticals.

Wild Strawberries Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Wild Strawberries features an LPCM Mono track in the original Swedish. As I so often mention, different reviewers means different opinions, and Svet gave this track a top flight 5.0 rating. I have no serious issues with anything on this track, but to my ears there are some baked in limitations that can give a somewhat flat, boxy sound at times, though there is some surprising dynamic range at play. Dialogue, effects and score are all rendered cleanly and clearly. Optional English subtitles are available.

Wild Strawberries Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary by Peter Cowie is an archival 2001 analysis.


• Introduction by Ingmar Bergman (HD; 4:04) is subtitled in English.


• Behind the Scenes of Wild Strawberries (HD; 16:54)


• Ingmar Bergman on Life and Work (HD; 1:30:38) is a fantastic 1998 documentary produced for Swedish television. Subtitled in English.

Wild Strawberries Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Bergman became an international superstar with the perceived hat trick of Smiles of a Summer Night, The Seventh Seal and this film, and it's not hard to see why. Each film is incredibly distinctive, even if they all seem to have obviously sprung from the same creative source. Wild Strawberries is as visually resplendent as The Seventh Seal, though in a completely different way, and it in fact addresses some of the issues surrounding mortality that The Seventh Seal does, albeit in a perhaps slightly less magical realist way. This is an inarguable masterpiece which Criterion presents with excellent technical merits and some really enjoyable supplements. Highly recommended.