In this famous dream sequence from Ingmar Bergman’s 1957 film Wild Strawberries, the film’s protagonist Isak Borg experiences a disturbing dream about his own morality. The dream takes place in a familiar and at the same time foreign space. The city is one he knows, but somehow Borg has lost his way among the streets and how finds himself in a strange dilapidated neighborhood. As he turns a corner and walks up another street, his gaze fixes on a street clock. The clock, however, does not have hands, indicating the end or the absence of linear time. Borg, confused by this sighting, consults his pocket watch, only to discover that it, too, lacks hands and thus cannot tell time. The absence of time creates an atmosphere of fear – perhaps of slight panic, as Borg removes his hat and then hastens away without a clear destination. After walking about twenty or thirty yards, Borg pauses and continues in the other direction – not knowing whether he should go forward or back. The lack of time mirrors his absence of resolve – and symbolizes, perhaps, the condition of being caught between life and death, memory and the future. After a gruesome encounter with a faceless man, a horse-drawn carriage appears. Its wheel gets caught and eventually breaks – spilling the carriages contents – a coffin that holds the deceased body of Borg himself. The simultaneous presence of a living and a dead Borg is possible only within the temporal logic of the dream -- and invites comparison to Bruno Schulz’s depiction of time in the sanatorium.

Referenced by Dream Time, Chapter Two: Dream Time

Comment on this media page