Summer Interlude

A poignant exploration of love and loss unfolds as a ballerina reflects on her past.

Critics broadly regard the film as a lyrical breakthrough for Ingmar Bergman, praising its romance, performances, cinematography, and emerging structural sophistication.

• Marie receives a diary before her ballet rehearsal and travels to the island where memories of Henrik return.
• Marie and Henrik fall in love during a summer holiday before tragedy separates them and alters her later emotional life.
• Marie is a ballerina whose professional life continues while a past tragedy has built a wall around her sentimental life.
• The ferry journey, Stockholm archipelago island, and summer vacation setting frame the couple’s romance with rapturous landscape imagery.

• Wild Strawberriesshared elegiac romance, memory-driven structure, and psychologically introspective treatment of lost love
• Summer with Monikashared Swedish arthouse drama, youthful romance, island setting, and bittersweet emotional atmosphere
• A Man Escapedshared lyrical young-love tragedy, contemplative pacing, and visual emphasis on landscape and faces
• Brief Encountershared romantic melancholy, artistic protagonists, and emotionally charged recollection of an absent love

Director

Ingmar Bergman

Release Date

1951-10-01

Runtime

96 min

Rating

7.4 / 10 (180)

What is Summer Interlude about?

A guarded ballerina confronts the summer love and devastating loss that shaped her emotional life when an old diary reopens the past.

What is Summer Interlude like to watch?

Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Summer Interlude as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.

Is Summer Interlude violent?

Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Summer Interlude as mild.

What did critics think of Summer Interlude?

Critics broadly regard the film as a lyrical breakthrough for Ingmar Bergman, praising its romance, performances, cinematography, and emerging structural sophistication.

Which films are like Summer Interlude?

Films with a similar feel include Wild Strawberries, Summer with Monika, A Man Escaped, and Brief Encounter.

How long is Summer Interlude?

Summer Interlude runs 96 minutes.

Where can I watch Summer Interlude?

In United States, Summer Interlude streams on Criterion Channel, Darkroom.