Summer Interlude

The films of Ingmar Bergman were no stranger to death and loss and his 1951 film Summer Interlude, the lingering feeling of death and loss and even loneliness are presented in all its stark reality.
Summer Interlude follows a twenty-eight year old ballerina named Marie (Maj-Britt Nilsson) who is rehearsing for a performance of Swan Lake when she receives a diary in the mail, sent by her Uncle Erland (Georg Funkquist). The diary belongs to a boy Marie had a summer romance with named Henrik (Birger Malmsten). Upon reading the diary, Marie impuslsively goes to the place where she and Henrik shared that romance. Upon visiting these places she is plagued of the painful memories of her doomed romance.
The romance itself is a thing of beauty. The more it plays out, the more you think it is going to last forever, until the dreadful end that tears Henrik and Marie apart. Through all this, Marie tries to find meaning in her empty life and tries to make up for it by embracing life, instead of dwelling in the painful past.
The portrait that Bergman paints here is a beautiful one. He brings to life a beautiful romance only to snatch it away and bring reality back to the front row. We feel every feeling that Marie does: love, hate, grief, pain, and regret. And like Marie, we are trying to piece together the fragments of all the things in the past. A starkly beautiful film from Ingmar Bergman.
This film is availble to watch on the Criterion's HuluPlus channel: http://www.hulu.com/watch/247386/summer-interlude. This film is also being released through the Criterion Collection on DVD and blu-ray on May 29. This is a must see film for any Ingmar Bergman fan or any fan of the Swedish cinema.
This is a true delight and a real gem from the fabulous filmography of Ingmar Bergman.