There is the fact that Bergmans himself wrote this script when he was hospitalized, perhaps it explained why thoughts of death and meaning of existence haunted the protagonist in this film.

For me, this work is more of a diary of an aged dying man rather than a movie. The work reveals how the stream of consciousness mixed with unconsciousness as the protagonist, Professor Isak Borg has weird dreams during the day he travels to receives his honorary degree.

The film opens with the confession of the storyteller that he wants to withdraw from all the so-called relations as he thinks relying on human’s behavior no longer makes sense to him. Following it is a series of peculiar events which started with a bizarre dream. In Isak’s dream, he is lost in the empty street among ruined house, just before he is frightened by the corpse who has his face. After waking up, he rushed for leaving the house and starting his journey.

And not quite relevant but I am not a fan of this film, Kubrick and Tarkovsky are.

I do enjoy the part when Sara, the girl in the present with curly short hair, jumps into the journey of Isak and his daughter in law. Present-Sare makes the scene so lively as she conveys her honest feeling about her two boyfriends, and how she and her friends express their love for the old professor with flowers and goodbye. But I do not appreciate this film much as I think it’s boring. I am not particularly lost for the scenes but I am not into this kind of self-exploration, it feels like I am watching masturbation.