Summer Interlude (Criterion Collection) (1951) On Blu-Ray

A sensitive, lyrical offering from Ingmar Bergman, SUMMER INTERLUDE deals with the innocence of first love and the transition from youth to adulthood, two of the director-screenwriter's favorite themes, and ones that he would revisit in later works. When Marie (Maj-Britt Nilsson), a prima ballerina, receives an old lover's diary after his death in a tragic accident, she begins to reminisce about the happy summer she spent with Henrik (Birger Malmsten), her first love, on an island near Stockholm. A flashback shows the young couple in a playful, carefree light, full of energy and grace. Since parting from Henrik, Maria has emerged as a sucessful dancer with many admirers and a new suitor, the journalist David Nystrom (Alf Kjellin). But she is dissatisfied with her present life and unable to forget the ardent love she experienced that one fateful summer long ago. Serious and bittersweet, this is a simple story told by a master filmmaker. The ballet company of the Stockholm Royal Opera can be seen performing excerpts from SWAN LAKE.