Woody + Bergman: Has anyone here saw 'Wild Strawberries'?

Greetings Guy & All,

The thread title mislead me (re: original), but I read through it. The idea of comparing this movie to Fellini's 8 1/2 is very intriguing, but I must rent the film first; it has been over 10 years I saw it last time.

IN LIEU OF A PROPER INTRODUCTION:

Deconstructing: To write about or analyze in a way that questions traditional assumptions about certainty, identity, and truth, asserts that words can only refer to other words, and attempts to demonstrate how statements about any text subvert their own meanings.
(The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition)

Your stories are sad, but I like to deconstruct them because they're happy underneath-- you just don't realize it. (A critic on Woody’s movies)

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SIMILARITIES between “Deconstructing Harry” and “Wild Strawberries”

Woody openly and admittedly pays tribute in many of his films to Ingmar Bergman, uses his plots, quotes, filmmaking techniques.

First and foremost the story line is identical in those 2 movies: the protagonist’s road trip to the Alma Mater and the disappointments and mistakes he must cope with en route.

Further similarities:
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(1) Grandly existential and self-reflective on-screen psychodrama
(2) Narrator is the protagonist
(3) Mean-spirited hero alienates everybody from him
(4) Considerable portion of the film is fantastic as the protagonist meeting the real people and fictional characters that populate his life.
(5) Narrative eases between the real world and the fictional world, the past and the present
(6) Director demonstrates a highly imaginative use of cinema (at Bergman’s time it was his own innovation)
(7) Flashback process is innovative and effective (again: Bergman used this systematically and consciously first in XXth century film)

Of course Woody’s own personality left traces on the film because DH deals with the immaturity and sexual obsession of Harry Block and done in a novel manner.

DIFFERENCES:

Isaak Borg, Bergman’s WS character is certainly an extension of Bergman’s soul, yet far from being his own alter ego. Harry Block stands for Woody.
Consequently Bergman’s film contains a deeper, more philosophical message (=his trademark); Woody’s film is more autobiographical and comical.

While Bergman is a faithful protestant and an unwavering believer, Woody admittedly has problems with Judaism.

Bergman’s film has an existentialist undertone with a ray of hope, while Woody’s film is cynical. (He directed it during or after his personal crisis with Mia and courtship of Soon-Yi).

My two cents only,

Best regards,
Marianne
=
Follow Your Bliss! (Campbell)