Summer with Monika (1953)
(Sommaren me Monika, Ingmar Bergman, Sweden 1953, 96 min., 35mm, Swedish w/English Subtitles)
Vintage 35mm print
Summer with Monika is Ingmar Bergman’s twelfth feature and, arguably, his first masterpiece. Over the past seventy years it has been interpreted and reinterpreted as an idyll, a tragedy, a romance, a satire, or even a horror film. It may be all of that, as it is one of Bergman’s most unconstrained works. Perhaps that’s why it ended up being one of the main catalysts for the French New Wave. It also launched the carrier of the wonderful Harriet Andersson. Fascinated by this entirely new female type on screen, Bergman claimed that “there has never been a girl in Swedish films who radiated more uninhibited erotic charm.” One of the most influential films of its time, it will be screened in an original 35mm print from the 1950s.
Post-screening discussion with Senior Curator Peter Bagrov.