Summer Interlude

Director: Ingmar Bergman
Year Released: 1951
Rating: 3.0

A ballerina (Maj-Britt Nilsson) reflects on an emotionally powerful relationship she had over a decade ago with a young man named Henrik (Birger Malmsten) who predicts his own death early on ... and then dies just as he predicted. Though hardly classifiable as one of Bergman's top efforts - he would later go on to explore these themes in much fuller, more mature works later on - and containing a one-dimensional Dirty Uncle character (Georg Funkquist) who doesn't really seem to fit in the movie, it is an intriguing portrait of young, fleeting love and how past relationships can come back to haunt us when we think we've gotten over them. While there are moments of levity (an animated number!), there's also a prevailing feeling of dread and gloom: the dancer can dance, but her heart remains heavy.