There's a great scene near the start of this film that sees an horse-drawn hearse get it's wheel caught between the kerb and a lamp-post. The horses persist in moving forward, the wheel comes off and we have a coffin exposed in the middle of a deserted street. A passer-by approaches the coffin only to find it's occupant still alive - and, worse still, it's him! It's "Dr. Borg" (Victor Sjöström). Is it portentous? Well it made me smile anyway, as does quite a lot of this thought-provoking drama. It centres around this learned man who is to travel to Lund next day to receive a great honour for his services to the medical profession. In the middle of the night, he disturbs his no-nonsense housekeeper "Agda" (a charming effort from Julian Kindahl) announcing plans to drive from Stockholm rather than fly. She's irked and is having none of this nonsense, but she makes his breakfast and packs his case. It's at breakfast that his pregnant daughter-in-law "Marianne" (Ingrid Thulin) decides to invite herself along. En route, it becomes clear that she despises the old man, and her bluntness rather shocks him. He readily admits he's a pedantic old grouch, but somehow this cuts him to the quick. After a stop for some petrol at the garage of "Henrik" (Max Von Sydow), they pick up some hitch-hikers. Firstly, a group of young and enthusiastic people and then a squabbling couple who seem to thrive on being unpleasant to each other. As we travel, the journey and their companions start him reminiscing about his own life, about the mother of his son and about the joys and tragedies of his own life. It's only when he arrives for his ceremony that he begins to reassess his life, his perspectives and his priorities. Sjöström is super here. He really carries off the role in almost "Scrooge"-like fashion. He has taken the emotionally easy way out for much of his life and now finds himself in an unfulfilling cul-de-sac from which it not might be possible to escape. Thulin also delivers well as the deliberately provocative and seemingly unkind woman who spares him none of the knife. There is plenty of humour - dark and mischievous, and we take quite an interesting look at just how toxic introspection can be - at any age. As ever with this director, questions of religiosity and God are never far away, but here they are delivered in a manner than the characters address rather than having us to do that work - and that makes this a far more relaxed, if that word can be used about Ingmar Bergman - and gentle rummage through his theological baggage. The plot is busy and entertaining, and there are plenty of other characters enmeshed in the narrative that give us an opportunity to come up for a breather now and again, and I think this might be one of my favourites from this man.
