Overview
A poignant exploration of love and loss unfolds as a ballerina reflects on her past.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- wistful
- melancholic
- elegiac
- quiet evening
- classic cinema night
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as a lyrical breakthrough for Ingmar Bergman, praising its romance, performances, cinematography, and emerging structural sophistication.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
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.
Films like Summer Interlude, and why
Wild Strawberries
shared elegiac romance, memory-driven structure, and psychologically introspective treatment of lost love
Summer with Monika
shared Swedish arthouse drama, youthful romance, island setting, and bittersweet emotional atmosphere
A Man Escaped
shared lyrical young-love tragedy, contemplative pacing, and visual emphasis on landscape and faces
Brief Encounter
shared romantic melancholy, artistic protagonists, and emotionally charged recollection of an absent love
Movie Details
- Director
- Ingmar Bergman
- Release Date
- 1951-10-01
- Runtime
- 96 min
- Rating
- 7.4 / 10 (178)
Cast
- Maj-Britt Nilsson
- Birger Malmsten
- Alf Kjellin
- Annalisa Ericson
- Georg Funkquist
- Stig Olin
- Mimi Pollak
- Renée Björling
- Gunnar Olsson
- Julia Cæsar
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Criterion Channel
- Rent
- Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- 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.
