Summer with Monika (#614)

Inspired by the earthy eroticism of his muse Harriet Andersson (Through a Glass Darkly), in the first of her many roles for him, Ingmar Bergman (Wild Strawberries) had a major international breakthrough with this ravaging, sensual tale of young love. In Stockholm, a girl (Andersson) and boy (The Magician’s Lars Ekborg) from working-class families run away from home to spend a secluded, romantic summer at the beach, far from parents and responsibilities. Inevitably, it is not long before the pair is forced to return to reality. The version originally released in the U.S. was reedited by its distributor into something more salacious, but the original Summer with Monika, as presented here, is a work of stunning maturity and one of Bergman’s most important films.