Wild Strawberries and Change in the Context of Crisis: Isak Borg and Ingmar Bergman

The essay examines the potential for character change in the context of crisis that takes place in a facilitating environment as revealed in Ingmar Bergman’s Wild Strawberrries, offering a model for understanding the dynamic ingredients of personality change during crisis both in a work of art and in its creator. The essay explores how the film represents Bergman’s effort to master and resolve conflict with his parents, particularly with his rigid and controlling father, which was especially intense at the time he made this film. Years later, as he reviewed the film in the context of a new crisis, he was able to recognize the attempt at resolution though he had not been aware of it at the time he made the film.