Summer Interlude (The Criterion Collection) (1951)

"Summer Interlude" is an often overlooked pearl from Bergman's film catalog. It's not as famous or as experimental as his other releases from this period, such as "Sawdust and Tinsel." Nevertheless it's quite good and I hold it in high regard. It fits in among the romantic-themed films he made from time to time--a close twin to "Summer with Monika," which he made a couple years later. Both share the theme of young adults navigating the pleasures and dangers of falling in love over the course of a single summer. Monika is a classic, in part because of Harriet Anderson's notoriety, but "Summer Interlude" is a sweeter film and the characters more likable. The protagonist played by Maj-Britt Nilsson, is both beautiful and admirable without the seedier bohemian carnality of Harriet Anderson's Monika. I know a lot of Bergman fans like "Summer with Monika" and both films are worth seeing, but to me "Summer Interlude" is the stronger film.

Regarding this DVD version: Tartan has released several Bergman films on DVD that aren't otherwise available in the US. They're in PAL format, which may discourage American fans since they probably aren't playable on the typical television DVD player. But I've had success playing them on my computer's DVD player. For some reason computers are more flexible about formats. If you don't mind watching a film on your laptop, you may be able to view this and the other Bergman films Tartan has released.

Touching, simple story of how a young girl's summer romance with a

sweet, modest young man, changes a her adult life as a ballet dancer

forever.

Told in flashback, beautifully shot, and mostly well (if not quite

brilliantly) acted, this lovely film could have been even stronger if

the two leads both didn't look and feel much too old for their roles,

making their naiveté and innocence feel a bit forced.

But there's much that's moving and insightful here about youthful

idealism versus life's hard realities.

Buy Summer Interlude (The Criterion Collection) (1951) Now

Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman is one of the world's most accomplished and influential directors of all time.

Known for a plethora of films in his oeuvre such as "The Seventh Seal", "Wild Strawberries", "Fanny and Alexander", to name a few. Bergman is best known for films that dealt with existential questions of mortality, loneliness and religious faith. Many of the films, especially the characters are an expression of how Bergman felt at the time.

And many of his stylistic and conceptual themes were formed in his earlier work, especially stories that were set in summer. "Smiles of a Summer Night", "Summer with Monika", "Wild Strawberries", etc.

But one film that resonated strongly with Bergman was an earlier film from 1951 titled "Summer Interlude". Bergman wrote in his book "Bergman on Bergman", "For me Summer Interlude is one of my most important films. Even though to an outsider it may seem terribly passé, for me it isn't. This was my first film in which I felt I was functioning independently, with a style of my own, making a film all my own, with a particular appearance of its own, which no one could ape. It was like no other film. It was all my own work. Suddenly I knew I was putting the camera on the right spot, getting the right results; that everything added up. For sentimental reasons, too, it was also fun making it."

And for the many cineaste who have followed Bergman's work, many credit "Summer Interlude" as his "breathrough" film and featuring a style that would later be fully expanded in later films.

VIDEO:

"Summer Interlude" is presented in 1080p High Definition black and white (1:37:1 aspect ratio). The video quality looks amazing considering that the film is 60-years-old. The detail is amazing as the film shows quite a good number of closeups. You can see the skin pores and the details on Marie's face, her clothing... for the most part, the clarity of "Summer Interlude" looks amazing, black levels are nice and deep, white and grays are well-contrast and this film has not suffered any major damage.

With that being said, there are some white specks and a few lines and scratches that do show up from time-to-time, but the majority of the film looks absolutely great. In fact, there is a good reason for the scratches which the Criterion Collection mention in the booklet.

According to the Criterion Collection, the original negative of "Summer Interlude" has been lost; this new digital transfer was constructed from two 35 mm duplicate negative sources. The Criterion Collection accessed the first, the only existing 35 mm duplicate negative in Sweden, at the Swedish Film Institute and was transferred in 2K resolution on an ARRISCAN film scanner at Chimney Pot in Stockholm. Much of the duplicate negative, however, was scratched, as well as riddled with mold so persistent that in some sections, it was impossible to remove completely, even after more than 400 hours of restoration.

The Criterion Collection then discovered another 35 mm duplicate negative, in Janus Films vaults, made in 1966 and stored under the alternate title "Illicit Interlude". Though there was no mold problem with this duplicate negative, much of it suffered from severe shrinkage, which can cause the right side of the frame to buckle and be out of focus.

The Criterion Collection was able to replace the sections of the Swedish Film Institute transfer that suffered from the worst mold and scratches. The final master, which still contains scratches that could not be repaired, incorporates nine minutes of Janus Films' negative with the original transfer.

Additionally thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices and warps were manually removed using MTI's DRS, while Image Systems' Phoenix and PixelFarms' PFClean were used for small dirt, grain, jitter and flicker.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

"Summer Interlude" is presented in monaural Swedish with English subtitles. Dialogue and music are clear from the monaural track and detected no hiss or crackle during my viewing.

According to the Criterion Collection, the original monaural soundtrack was mastered at 24-bit from a 35mm optical soundtrack print. Clicks, thumps, hiss and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuate using AudioCube's integrated workstation.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

"Summer Interlude The Criterion Collection #613″ on Blu-ray comes with no special features.

EXTRAS:

"Summer Interlude The Criterion Collection #613″ comes with a 20-page booklet featuring the essay "Love and Death in the Swedish Summer" by Peter Cowie.

JUDGMENT CALL:

As many new fans of Ingmar Bergman are starting to discover a lot of his films through Blu-ray (many released by the Criterion Collection) and on DVD via Criterion's "Eclipse Series", many have been introduced to his most earlier work and also his most revered work in his oeuvre.

"Summer Interlude" is a film that is important because it is a beginning for Ingmar Bergman as a filmmaker. It's a film that was the first to give Bergman independence and the freedom to create a film his way, his style and was literally the precursor to many of the films that people who have collected his films from the Criterion Collection. It all begins with this film!

And it's a film that exemplifies Swedish filmmaking but it's also a personal film for Ingmar Bergman.

In Sweden, June and July offer people from the city, to enjoy summer vacation in the countryside before the cold, harsh winter. And it's a season that Bergman would follow in later films in capturing the summertime, as one of the most memorable experiences in his life took place when Bergman was a teenager. It is where Bergman would have a magnificent love affair with a young woman who unfortunately contracted polio.

In 1949, Bergman wrote a short story about this young woman and he would eventually go on to use the story for the film "Summer Interlude".

"Summer Interlude" is a film that is beautiful to watch. Capturing the beauty of the island region in film, capturing the silhouettes of the characters, but most importantly, how the moods of the characters reflect what is shown onscreen. Visually rich, the film would attract cineaste and was lauded by film critics including Cahiers du Cinema critic (and filmmaker) Jean Luc Godard who also praised the film's beauty. American film critic Pauline Kael would praise "Summer Interlude" for its "elegiac grace and sweetness."

Actress Maj-Britt Nelson (who worked on Bergman's "To Joy" and "Secrets of Women") was remarkable in playing 28-year old ballerina named Maria who looks tired of life. Doing something she loves, but yet looks rather effete, a loss of enthusiasm. But often a person has a hard time letting emotions go of something that has happened in the past.

It's an elegy that perhaps Ingmar Bergman has kept with him when he wrote the original story back in the late '40s. Marie more or less represents Bergman, who saw the young woman that he loved contracting polio. A woman full of energy and life can change within a second.

We see the same with Marie, when the story takes the viewer through a flashback when Marie is 15-years-old. Unlike herself in the future, she is full of energy, constantly giggling, vibrant and full of life. She feeds off the beauty of the island and she feeds of her love for Henrik.

Birg Malmsten did a wonderful job of playing the shy and timid college student and both Marie and Hendrik are perhaps the juxtaposition of Bergman and the young woman he had a love affair with. For many people, to love at a young age and to see that love taken away is a painful experience.

While Bergman films would expand to characters that have lost their identities and at times, the storyline are darker than what is featured in "Summer Interlude", this film has a sense of pureness, hope and one person trying to find her way through tragedy. The elegy of Marie shows us the corruption of youth in a different kind of way that most traditional films tend to explore of such things.

And as "Summer Interlude" has no doubt showcased an elegiac grace and beauty. There is a visual style for the film that captures the balance of happiness, vibrancy, sadness and regret, but most importantly, a style that also brings to the viewer...hope. Magnificent!

On Blu-ray, I was thrilled with the overall quality of the film. The Criterion Collection have really gone to great lengths into having a proper restoration of "Summer Interlude" and reading in the booklet of how far they had to go in finding the best prints, it's no surprise that this Bergman film had taken so long to be released (considering The Criterion Collection have released so many films from Bergman's ouevre on video). And as people wonder how come some films take longer than others to be released in the US, it appears that the Criterion Collection really went through hoops and bounds to take two existing film elements and present "Summer Interlude" in the best quality as possible. And I'm grateful for the company for doing that.

While I wish there were special features included on this Blu-ray release, especially an audio commentary, to make up for it, the Blu-ray is much cheaper than other Blu-rays.

"Summer Interlude" is an Ingmar Bergman film that is a must see, must own film to own, if you are a fan of his work or really want a film that shows a major breakthrough within Bergman's fillmmaking and would be among Bergman's earlier films to jumpstart the period of fantastic Swedish cinema.

It's also important to note that with the release of "Summer Interlude", Bergman's other summer film "Summer with Monika" (1953), which shows us an alternate storyline of "what if?", as a couple who met on summer vacation, must take responsibility when the young woman gets pregnant. So, with the release of both films in May 2012, you'll definitely want to pick up both of these Ingmar Bergmans film on Blu-ray!

Overall, "Summer Interlude" is a highly recommended film despite its lack of special features.

Read Best Reviews of Summer Interlude (The Criterion Collection) (1951) Here

these are terrific Criterion releases timed to our seasonal climatic. spot on. Bergman was building a film machine that would ultimately place him in the top 5 all time worldwide best directors (or ten if you are stateside fanatics). these are great examples that capture the uncluttered beauty of that country in the early 1950's just before mass production became a disease taking root and hold everywhere. while also revealing the youthful, rebelliousness, restless angst that subtly connected the first generation to come of age after WW II, manifesting subliminally and unspoken. I always preferred his black and white films over his color stock productions.

Bergman was a serious womanizer which is hinted at in a Summer With Monika featurette that would never be satiated in his lifetime regardless the chase and conquer. these films hint at the greatness bubbling under his surface and go beyond art house as far as substance and sustenance quantify. if I love them, you'll probably like them. be more, try them. go way beyond today's digital so "30 seconds ago" when timeless moments could happen, leaving you in awe and breathless. unconcerned with whom knew what, when, or if ever.

Want Summer Interlude (The Criterion Collection) (1951) Discount?

(Review based on the Criterion release on DVD checked out from local library with included booklet and original case)

I have been a Bergman fan for years. The man could create some of the most strikingly beautiful black and white films ever. Even watching this film, one of the earlier in his career (his 10th directing), the cinematography is haunting. I could turn off the sound and subtitles and just watch the film for the beauty and the expressions of the amazingly talented cast.

In this film we see a series of flashbacks by the main character and ballet dancer Maria. Her flashbacks are triggered after receiving a diary in the post. The flashbacks take place 13 years earlier at her uncle's country house and estate. The setting is idyllic and filled with the energy of youth. Maj-Britt Nilsson plays a very convincing teenager (I figure she is supposed to be between 17 and 20) as well as a believable aging ballerina in the present time. In typical Bergman fashion, we are given little snippets of foreshadowing. One character even remarks on the "presence of death" around the lake.

I won't give away anything in the film, but I will say that it's not as happy go lucky as Smiles of a Summer Night, nor as dark as his later films. Instead it has an interesting dichotomy between the present, where Marie is obviously suffering emotionally, and the past where things were free spirited. There is an occurrence which ties the time and the emotional state of Marie together. The use of shadow is of particular note in the past after this event.

I particularly enjoyed the supporting cast. Marie's 'uncle' is very odd. There is also some insinuation that he may have been with Marie at some point, and in fact later in the film we see that in the period between the past and present it may have occurred again (or for the first time). But Bergman doesn't spell it out, and it is left to the viewer to interpret. When we first see her uncle it is when he places a bracelet on Marie's wrist (in her youth) and fondly (and far to familiarly) kisses her wrist. Henrik's aunt is also entertaining in her one scene, as is the rabbi in the same scene. Other notable supporting characters are the ballet company dancers and maestro.

There are a few well shot scenes with Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. It is of note that the film almost follows a Swan Lake arc to the story, albeit slightly different in the end. But Swan Lake is a tale about youthful innocence and love only to become much darker in the second half and end tragically.

This is not up to the level of Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Persona, or Smiles of a Summer Night; but this film does take the first step from Bergman's more obvious and narrower earlier films into the greatest era of his directing. The depth in this film is impressive, especially since it was unexpected for me. Criterion did well to restore and release this film under their regular line and not in the Eclipse series.

Of note: There aren't any special features on the DVD. You get the film on one disc, though it is amazingly restored despite its age (1951). Instead of special features, Criterion has included a 20 odd page booklet with some additional reading. This is an amazing addition and I highly recommend reading it after viewing. The booklet helps the viewer to dissect much of the film, including the reasons Bergman chose the particular setting and the irony of the title 'Sommarlek'.

If you are a Bergman fan, you will like the foreshadowing to later films; in one scene the rabbi plays chess with the aunt while discussing Death, in another scene the characters comment on how they "love wild strawberries". Both put a smile on my face.

So is this film worth a purchase? For true Bergman fans, yes. Otherwise, if you can get a copy from the library I might recommend picking it up. Especially for the booklet. If you can rent it or watch it streaming, then perhaps check it out that way first. It's a great film, but I doubt I will be re-watching it over and over like Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries. But $14.99 is more than a fair price for the DVD version.

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