In the film "Wild Strawberries", combining dreams and memories, he looks back on his past life through the experience of a day of teaching. Bergman completes the exploration of the philosophy of life of life and death through the metaphors of dreams and the memories of symbolic interweaving fragments. This film has a novel theme and a high intention.
Nightmare of Death
Professor Isaac in the film has a total of four dreams, the first of which foreshadows the theme of death.
In the dream, Professor Isaac strolled through the empty and silent street, he saw a large clock in front of a watch shop, strangely there was no hands on the big clock, when he took out his pocket watch to check the time, he found that there was no hand on the pocket watch, which indicated that for him life time had ended, and the life hands were no longer turning.
Isaac found a man dressed in black standing at the end of the road with his back to him, and when he tapped the man in black on the shoulder to make him turn his head, he was horrified to find a face without facial features, and then the man in black fell to the ground and turned into a pool of blood.
In the first dream it was a very obvious hint of death, with a face without facial features symbolizing that Isaac's selfish personality had been distorted and deformed. Then a carriage approached him, and a coffin fell from the carriage that was blocked by street lights. When Isaac approached, a hand reached out from the coffin and grabbed him, and in the struggle Isaac was shocked to find that the deceased was himself. This direct stimulus of death awakens Isaac from his dream, and he finally understands the death prompting of this dream, prompting him to begin to reflect on his life.
Memories of first love
Professor Isaac, who had experienced a dream of death, decided to drive himself on the journey to receive the award, and his decision began a journey of memories of his life. It was the oppressive feeling of death and the loneliness of reality that forced him to the path of memory. During the journey, passing through the strawberry fields of his former home, Isaac enters a dream of a second dream of memories of his first love.
This dream is not so much Isaac's memory as his imagination, because isaac in his youth does not appear in the film, but the elderly Isaac "sees" his fiancée at the time of his first love, constituting an intersection of time and space. Isaac "sees" his fiancée Sarah kissing her brother on the field of wild strawberries, and then Sarah falls to the ground to confess, and the fact that the wild strawberries have been overturned means that Isaac's first love, which is as green as wild strawberries at this time, has been destroyed by her brother.
We continued to follow the eyes of the elderly Isaac into the restaurant. The peaceful atmosphere of celebrating Uncle Aaron's birthday in the restaurant infected Isaac, and he smiled, which showed that in his subconscious, he still missed the beauty of his youth. Sarah, who has been exposed by the twins for an underground relationship, escapes from the restaurant to cry to her sister, and Isaac's simple and mysterious way of thinking makes her feel painful, preferring to choose Siegfried, who is bold and direct in her love.
The elderly Isaac who "sees" all this "feels extreme emptiness and sadness", when he begins to reflect on the harm caused to his fiancée by the selfishness and indifference of his youth, and he finally realizes that it is he who has buried his first love with his own hands.
When Isaac wakes up and sees a girl named Sarah who is exactly the same as her first love, she is also facing the competition between two men, but unlike the hesitation of her first love, Sara in front of her looks bold and lively, and she dares to torture the two admirers with her enthusiasm. The young Sarah's love triangle with the two suitors echoes Isaac's first love, ending his reflections and memories of his first love.
Middle-aged trial
As the day's journey continues, Isaac visits her mother, and her daughter-in-law Marianne, who appreciates the indifference of the professor's relationship with his mother, seems to understand better why her husband has such a selfish and indifferent character. When Isaac returns to the wild strawberry field of his dreams, the young and beautiful cousin Sarah holds the mirror to make him face his old self, and he does not dare to look at himself in the mirror, indicating that he has realized that the true self is hidden behind the illusion in the mirror, and he does not dare to look directly at the indifferent, selfish self.
Just then Arman opened a door inviting Professor Isaac in, and he took Isaac into a classroom and announced that he was going to be tested.
- The first question is to look at specimens under a microscope. Professor Isaac could only see his own eyes under the microscope, which once again reflected the selfishness in his eyes.
- The second question is to state the doctor's first obligation. As a respected professor of medicine, Isaac did not know that the doctor's first duty was to ask for forgiveness, which was a complete negation of Isaac's glorious achievements in practicing medicine for many years.
- The third question is diagnosing the patient. When Isaac diagnosed that the patient was dead, she suddenly opened her eyes and laughed, and her laughter was a mockery of Isaac's medical skills to the rules of life. Subsequently, Arman accused Isaac of indifference from his wife.
Isaac has never been sincere in his feelings, he hides himself behind the glorious image of people revered, practices medicine with a noble mask, but never shows his true heart, so in the dream judgment he receives a sentence of loneliness for life, which is a criticism of his lifelong indifference.
Return to peace
After three dreams, Professor Isaac's reflection on his life has reached a new height, and at the same time, his journey in real life has come to an end. He was honored with the title of Honorary Professor of Medicine, and sarah was overjoyed to express her affection for him when she left with her friends, and he became aware of his indifference and tried to make a change.
In his attitude towards the maid, we can fully feel this gentle change, and at the same time, his heart-opening action has also returned to the old maid's heartfelt smile.
epilogue:
At the end of the film, Professor Isaac falls into the last dream of the day, which finally returns to peace. He came to the wild strawberry field again, cousin Sarah took his hand, took him to find his father who was fishing by the sea and his mother who was reading a book on the side, this was the scene that he had subconsciously fantasized about many times as a family sharing the joy of heaven, and his happiness and harmony, and now he could finally dream of this warm and peaceful picture in his dream, indicating that he had completed his lifelong reflection in the journey of the day, the original cold and selfish mind had been forgiven, and his soul was reborn in a peaceful atmosphere.