When all those many years ago I first watched Ingmar Bergman's "Wild Strawberries", this bittersweet film about one man's nostalgic journey into the past, I could not even begin to imagine what it would be like to be an old man looking back on my own life.
The film, made before ABBA conquered the world and Greta Thunberg tried to change it, is - to put it bluntly - about dark things. It’s there from the beginning, when a coffin falls from a broken carriage to reveal to the passing Professor Borg his image — a classical doppelgänger who attempts to drag the old man down into the darkness of the tomb.
But "Wild Strawberries" is not a neurotic movie; instead, it dramatises one man's remarkable voyage of self-discovery. When I watched it all those many years ago, I didn't know much about life - and I still don't! - but it left an indelible impression on me, and it might also on you.
Why, you might even pick up some hurdy-gurdy Swedish! 😄
