Final Essay

Ernesta (Etleva) Hasa
Professor Wexler
English 436
Final Essay

Freudian perspective of Bergman’s “Wild Strawberries” and Fellini’s “8 1/2"

Ernesta (Etleva) Hasa
Professor Wexler
English 436
Final Essay

Freudian perspective of Bergman’s “Wild Strawberries” and Fellini’s “Eight and a Half”

Bergman’s “Wild Strawberries” and Fellini’s “8 ½” center our attention on the internal struggles of two professionally accomplished men. Despite some major differences, there are parallels drawn between the two movies, parallels which encompass common themes, narrative structures, as well as common psychoanalytical insights, the latest consisting mostly of the Freudian theory of the subconscious.

Borg, the major character in “Wild Strawberries” is a retired doctor. He is the narrator in the movie and from the beginning we learn that he is seventy eight years old and about to receive the highest Swedish award for a physician. Borg is somewhat in a life- reflective mood and after he gives us brief information about him having had ten siblings, one son and a wife who has been dead for a long time, we are transported into a dream he has. He is shown taking a stroll. As he walks in the emptiness of the street he sees a clock with no hands which ticks in the pattern of his heartbeat. He then tries to talk with somebody who has his back on Borg only to see it transformed, as it turns around, in a body with tightly closed mouth and eyes, as if it’s trying hard to appear non-responsive. After this a casket falls from an approaching hearse and he sees inside it a body which looks exactly like him.

This dream sequence in “Wild Strawberries” is very similar to Fellini’s “8 ½” beginning of the movie which consists of a dream sequence. Guido, the film’s central character, is driving in heavy traffic. For a moment, he has a suffocating sensation caused by being trapped in it. The people in the cars and busses seem frozen; they do not react except for a taxi driver, who only reacts towards the sensuality of his woman passenger.
The non-reactive bodies present in both character’s dream space suggest a certain loneliness which enfolds both Borg and Guido.

Both movies continue to unfold their character’s struggles in a somewhat similar narrative structure which consists of main character’s dreams, childhood and earlier life flashbacks as well as their daydreams. Borg’s process of flashbacks through dreams and or/daydreaming is however more discernable from his real life as a character when compared to that of Guido’s. The latter’s daydreaming or dreaming process is intertwined with his real life events thus making the border between his internal and external world hardly visible. These two characters are effortlessly trying to figure out their existence. Borg is obviously at an age that tends to be more self-reflective than Guido’s. He is seventy eight and is quite often affected by the idea of a soon-to-face death. However, his loneliness, especially as felt in the cask dream is the starting point of an intense reflecting process which encompasses a day in his life. Guido, however, is younger than Borg and unlike Borg’s scientific professional nature Guido’s profession is that of a director who is facing a creative crisis at the moment. He is under the pressure to create his new movie as well as under anxiety and confusion about his personality. It is this pressure that throws him into a deep process of dreams, childhood memories and daydreaming.
The childhood memories, daydreams and dreams unfold many elements of character’s unconscious in a way that makes both character’s efforts to recognize their internal struggles very similar to a Freudian psychoanalytical process.

Both character’s relationships with their mothers do suggest an Oedipus complex. In the midst of his confusion, in his daydreaming, dreaming or surreal experience, Guido constantly sees his mother, both at her young and old age. In one of his dreams (or maybe daydreams…) he meets his father who appears to be worried about Guido. They stop near, what seems to be an open grave, and while Guido is inquiring about the place, he helps his father lie down in it. He hears his mother’s voice, turns around and they hug while she is saying: “Guido, what more can I do for you”. As they hug, she also kisses him on his lips and as Guido is trying to make sense of that type of kiss, his mother is transformed into his wife, Luisa. The order of the events is clearly reflective of the Oedipus’ complex; Guido helps his father into the grave, just like Oedipus kills his father, and, realizes his desire towards his mother through the kiss. The kiss, however is initiated by his mother. One can clearly see the working of the dream thoughts: one’s desires are censored and don’t appear purely as they are in real life, thus it is the mother that initiates the kiss.
Simultaneously, Borg, instead of taking the plane as planned, decides to drive to Lund, the town where he will receive the award and where his son lives. On the way, he decides to stop for a visit to his old mother’s who lives a few hours away from him. This change of plans (to drive, instead of taking the plane) upsets his housekeeper who is going with him to attend the ceremony. She is surprised by this sudden change of plans, however, decides to still go by plane. The question becomes: is Borg’s decision to visit his mother taken simply by the fact that he happens to drive near her town, or did he decide to drive just so that he can visit his mother?
Also, in Borg’s daydreaming/flashbacks, his father’s presence is not felt at all. He is able to see everybody (mother, brothers, sisters, cousin, etc.) and despite the fact that his father is mentioned a few times, Borg sees him in one of his flashbacks/dreams at the end of the movie, only from a distance. This suggests Borg’s subconscious desire to get rid of his father or father figure and allow mostly his mother in the picture.

One of the crucial issues in both movies evolves around their major character’s sexuality. In the scene of the springs in 8 ½, an overwhelmingly spread crowd of women is seen through Guido’s eyes as he approaches the springs. We see close-ups of their faces; listen to their distant conversations, and despite these various appearing aspects that include distant dialogues, preparation for the scene, women serving water from the springs, Guido’s point of view on these women is dominantly injected into ours: we sense with every movement of the camera Guido’s attraction to every single woman. Some of them seem to be real, some of them seem to be the work of Guido’s imagination or a manifestation of his subconscious desires. There is one actress in particular which draws his complete attention: everything seems to stop moving for Guido when Claudia’s character enters the scene of the springs (She is played by the actress with the same name Claudia Cardinale). Guido’s reaction towards her is unique: she literally takes his breath away; she is Guido’s ideal woman who embodies a range of qualities such as beauty, charm, intellect, and comfort.
An important presence in this scene is that of the pope and a few other religious officials who attend to him. One doesn’t fail to notice this ever-present juxtaposition throughout the movie: women and religious followers, human sensuality and religious rigor. The very presence of these opposing elements, as well as the presence of Guido’s wife, Luisa, is the key to understanding Guido’s struggle: he is torn between temptation and guilt.
These feelings have their roots in Guido’s childhood. Guido constantly withdraws into his childhood memories where he is often affectionately cared for by women.
As a child, we see him being bathed, wrapped in sheets, and carried carefully by his mother and other women in the household (8 ½). The womb-like position he assumes as a child as he is being wrapped and carried by his mother, suggests Guido’s need for unconditional love and comfort by women. He simply sees them as objects of comfort. This idea is strongly supported by the harem scene, in which Guido seems to treat all the women around him however he pleases: whips them, laughs at them, orders them around, and is still just like in his childhood memories affectionately tended by them. The only character that seems to shed some light into Guido’s condition is his beloved Claudia, who at one point, during the analysis of the script, tells Guido that she doesn’t understand why he won’t let a character in one of his movies be happy with a girl he meets and who is everything he wants her to be. He replies that he doesn’t believe in that [happy endings as solutions to a man’s problems]. She kindly disagrees and says: “Because he doesn’t know how to love” (“8 ½”)
One cannot discern any mature development between Guido as a child and as an adult. This incapability to mature has its roots in Guido’s oppression as a child. He is often reprimanded as a child for his visits to Saraghina, a prostitute who lives at the beach. The efforts to shape Guido’s morality as a child, through religious principles, have turned into a suppressive device of his sexual desires which manifest themselves into the objectivization of women as an adult.
This particular flaw is also part of Borg’s character in “Wild Strawberries”. This quality is pointed out to him by his daughter-in-law as they are driving together to Lung where he will get his honorary award. Through their dialogue we learn that Marianne (Borg’s daughter-in-law) has been staying in his house for a few weeks, however, Borg has never asked her why did she come to stay with him and leave Evald (her husband, his son) alone in Lund. At one point in the dialogue, when Borg asks Marianne to tell him why does she think badly of him, she responds: “You are a selfish old man, Uncle Isak” “You are utterly ruthless and never listen to anyone but yourself, but you hide it all behind your old-worldly manners”
In defense of himself, Borg says that he liked having her about the house (“Wild Strawberries”). In response to this, Marianne says: “Yes, like a cat”. Another instance of Borg’s view on women is revealed earlier in the conversation when Marianne is lighting a cigarette and he stops her from doing so by saying that “Cigarettes are a vice for men”. Marianne asks whether there are any vices left for women, and Borg replies “Weeping, giving birth, and speaking ill of their neighbors”. It is this very moment in the conversation when Borg clearly realizes (and he manifests this realization by his internal change at the end of the movie) his view on women as objects, mere others, subordinate to men’s role in society.
As Borg’s reminisces later on about his younger life, we see how he has been deeply hurt at some point by his cousin/girlfriend Sara, who chooses to marry his undeserving brother rather than Borg. All of his memories about his childhood and the love he had for Sara are triggered by a patch of wild strawberries which has a sexual connotation central to the movies themes.
Both Borg in “Wild Strawberries” and Guido in “8 ½” attain a higher level of awareness about themselves through an intensive journey into their subconscious. This journey, done mostly through surreally arranged looks into their subconscious through dreams, flashbacks, daydreams by both characters brings both of them into the realization of who they truly are and the roots of the elements which constitute their personalities. Their story can be likened very much to a psychoanalytical process.
At the end of his long day, Borg decides to end the day and start his sleep with the sweet memories of his childhood that comfort him. Guido on the other hand, understands his struggle and comes to accept who he is which is different – as he clarifies- from who he wants to be.
“Wild Strawberries” and “8 ½” came out six years apart form one another, from two countries with different cultural backgrounds. Despite these different soils of production, they both are concerned with very similar themes about the condition of modern man, his loneliness and struggle to recognize and understand what constitutes his existence and what is more important his happiness. In this understanding of modern man’s condition, many issues are involved and entangled with one another, issues such as morality, death, sexuality, temptation, God and love.

The journey both characters take to come to their final realization of themselves is directed inward into their subconscious. The narrative structure which employs devices such as contemplative daydreaming, retrospective and dreams on behalf of both characters of the respective films, plays a very efficient role into bringing the viewer into the very core of the issues presented.

Works Cited
Freud, Sigmund. “From The Interpretation of Dreams.” The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Ed, Vincent B. Leitch. 2nd ed. W.W. Norton & Company
Wild Strawberries. Dir.Bergman, Ingmar. Svenks Filmindustri. 1957.Film.
8 ½ . Dir. Fellini, Federico. Cineriz, 1963. Film.