Summer With Monika

Director: Ingmar Bergman
Year Released: 1953
Rating: 3.0

A feisty, independent woman (Harriet Andersson) meets and starts dating an equally-young man (Lars Ekborg) and the two run off together in his father's boat and think they can live "off the land." A traditional story arc is given the Bergman Treatment, and this traces the relationship's path from initial infatuation to dissolution (she's sick of married life and cheats on him; it's in her nature to not want to 'settle down'); the movie reminds me of the adage I was told when I was a teen that your first love isn't always your last love. For Bergman, this is a solid effort but not in the class of his masterpieces ... though for any other filmmaker it's probably a landmark movie.