Summer With Monika (1953) – Two teenagers run away for an idyllic summer of love and adventure. But a life of freedom isn’t as carefree as they thought. When the summer ends, there is the reality of life waiting for them.
Directed by Ingmar Bergman Starring – Harriet Andersson, Lars Ekborg
Why I Liked It – Romeo and Juliet with all the glitter and romance sanded off.
Let me get this out of the way. It’s Bergman. It’s complex, a little too much in its own head, and depressing. It’s also in Swedish. You can either live with that or not. It’s Bergman. You should see a couple Bergman films in your life, just so you can shrug your shoulders and say “What can I say? It didn’t do much for me.”
I am puzzled by Ingmar Bergman. Huge reputation, many legends around both him and his films. Another film school standard when I first started getting serious about movies. Everyone raves about his work, his influence, whispers about his five marriages and multiple affairs. And I watch the movies, and can see the technique. But I’m not overwhelmed by the storytelling. The movies always seem to try to “Make A Point”. Which I find tedious. Maybe I need to watch more/different Bergman movies.
Like “Summer With Monika”.
This one comes before most of his most highly acclaimed films. Harry (Ekborg) is in a dead-end job, as is Monika (Andersson). She is energetic and adventurous while he is easily influenced. When she gets in trouble, he steals his father’s motorboat and they spend the summer traveling around the islands near Stockholm. It’s a summer of sexual exploration and warm summer days. They are in love, and the world is a wonderful place. It doesn’t take long for reality to intrude. No money, no food, and an accident on the boat all dampen the mood. Worse yet, Monika is pregnant. When they return home, the true personalities of the two are exposed. One will accept responsibility, the other will not.
After running Berman down before, I must admit I rather liked this movie. It caused a furor in its day with a nude scene that is charming by today’s standards. There’s nothing coy about the nudity, nor is it artfully disguised. There was a version of the movie edited down to the spicy bits that made the rounds of the drive-in circuit in the United States for years. That scene, along with the movie “One Summer of Happiness” are what launched Sweden’s reputation for sexual liberation. But “Summer With Monika” offers a simple story that shines through the characters that live it out. Shakespeare makes high romance out of young love (even though most of the major characters die). It’s a romantic fantasy. Bergman brings us a hormone driven, impulsive, slow motion train wreck of a romance. It’s gritty and feels a little little like a pared-down version of “Lord of the Flies”, where the glamour of “young love” is the final sacrifice.
So Bergman gets a better than passing grade here, for a change.
I just wish he wasn’t so damn depressing.
Rating: *** Worth A Look
(This is the original trailer for the movie. Yes, it’s all in Swedish, but you get a better feel for the movie.)
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