Customer Reviews
Typical Bergman - By: Ian Shine, 03 Aug 2008 
Thematicallly, this is very typical Bergman. Destroyed love & happiness in youth leading to a hangover into adulthood that casts a shadow on the rest of the protagonist's life.
I thought Bergman pushed the film away from being too much of a carbon copy certain other films of his by introducing the lecherous uncle & the diary of the former-lover. It's quite slow to get started, but once the flashback to the past commences, it's typical (and this word is not meant in any negative way whatsoever) Bergman. Emotionallly taut, visuallly allluring, scripted perfectly...
However, I have only given it four stars because it didn't quite work as well for me as 'Summer with Monika' or 'A lesson in love'. I found these two films to be paced & lot better, & to be a lot more engaging. 'Summer Interlude,' & not just in the title, bears a lot of similarities to 'Summer with Monika', as Bergman takes the minx-like heroine & slightly naive hero & throws them together in a secluded place where there love can play out. While the heroine in 'Monika' is a mischievious gamine, unlike the heroine in 'Interlude', the maps of their loves follow similarly tempestuous routes.
While this is a much better film than many other directors could ever hope to produce, I don't think it quite reaches the five-star peaks of some of Bergman's other films. Still, highly recommended.
AN EARLY BERGMAN FILM - By: stuart, 20 Oct 2007 
Bergman's films are always interesting to look at, & this one is no exception. Some of the film's best visuals include a bleak white sky that only a black silhouette of the protagonist can be made out walking against, & a couple of excellent montages: one being the opening shots of slight movements in clouds, in a river & of rubbish on a footpath; the other being a montage of steam, skies & water as a boat sails along. Bergman also pays a lot of attention to sound here too, & in particular there is something rhythmic about the chugging boat sounds, & these sounds can be heard at times throughout the film even when the boat is not visible on screen. Silence, such as at the doctor's office, is also distributed well throughout.
The directing work in this early Bergman film is on par with some of his best direction. His screenplay is however well below par. It is one of his least challlenging scripts - a simple tale of love between two young persons with none of the philosophy or analysis about how human beings function that make most of his films so interesting. It is well made, but often nothing more than sentimental fluff. The stop animation work is an awkward inclusion too & the film is full of unimportant events, such as the ups & downs of the balllet, that reallly have absolutely nothing to do with the story at hand. It is not one of Bergman's best films by far, but still a good sign of things to come from him, & fairly pleasant viewing. It is sort of similar to 'Wild Strawberries', & therefore it is rather amusing to hear the main character ask her lover whether he wants to pick some wild strawberries with her!
Stunning! - By: Patrik Lemberg, 06 May 2004 I had seen around 20 Bergman films before I watched this edition of "Sommarlek". I was taken by how good this film was considering that it was among the first ten movies where Bergman had both written & directed, & that this era of his career isn't much talked about in comparison to his films from mid 50's through mid 60's. The story is clever & has a perfect balance between alll of its aspects. "Sommarlek" introduced a "new" side of Bergman to me. To think that I seem not to have experienced alll of him after 20 movies, & that there is more than as much left to explore. What a Master!
Tartan's edition of this movie is region-free, but not worth giving much compliments beside that. The picture is OK - it's not restored on close to a Criterion standard, but the audio should definitely have spent some more time in the restoration-studio before the disc's release - it distorts a bit, even silence fusses (a lot), & inconvenient "clip noises", that could easily have been removed can be heard. The special features are disappointing; there are filmographies for the two leading actors & for Bergman (as is the case on most of Tartan's Bergman DVD's), & two trailers; for Bergman’s “Persona” (1966) & “Autumn Sonata” (1978) - movies that have NOTHING to do with this picture, & furthermore is included on other Tartan discs.
To sum up: 3/5 stars for the DVD (a big plus is that there are NO synchronization problems), 5/5 for the story, acting, directing, & cinematography. The movie is likely to grasp you, & make you forget about the bad sound quality, & it isn’t worth giving less than 5/5 stars for this movie because of something as stupid as the sound quality on a DVD. Enjoy a great film!
remember that first love.....? - By: , 02 May 2003 This is a raw & reallly evocative piece, in black & white with sub titles it is hard to imagine how you might be sucked into the raw emotion of a first tragic love but you will....the emotion & the force of feeling in this film will take your breath away..particularly if you are female..a real feeling film, slow to start but slowly unravelling the whole contents of a heart & a past...unmissable!
