Summer with Monika
directed by Ingmar Bergman / 1953 / Sweden
Awhile ago I saw a double feature at an art gallery, the first was Truffaut's landmark film about a little boy in France, and the other was Ingmar Bergman's Summer with Monika. I wasn't sure what to expect considering my favorite period of Bergman is late 50s/early 60s and going too far back could get interesting. It had an entirely different aesthetic, sets were heavily used and it was overly saccharine. Part of the draw is in the initial cheesiness and gradual build to a darker complexity.
Harriet Andersson plays sexually liberated Monika, who is adventurous and fond of the town boys. She goes away on a stolen boat with one called Harry (or Harrrry in Swedish), and the following forty minutes are some of the most absorbing. They travel through the beautiful archipelago of Sweden and resort to drastic measures when in need of food. Andersson can certainly play crazy (as seen in Through a Glass Darkly) and she steals the screen in this. Overall it's not a weighty film that you might expect from Bergman although that's partly why it is so memorable.
valerie