White Wall Cinema: SUMMER WITH MONIKA

Boasting a coveted 100% Rotten Tomatoes score, Summer with Monika is perhaps the first truly great film of Ingmar Bergman’s long and storied career. Bergman would, of course, go on to create a body of work that ranks him among the greatest directors of all time, alongside Kubrick, Hitchcock and Kurosawa. But Summer with Monika marks the director’s first major turning point, both on and off screen.

It tells the story of two young working-class Swedes who, disillusioned with everyday life, steal a boat and embark on an impulsive getaway, spending an idyllic summer together on a small island. There they experience the first bloom of love and lust before reality comes crashing back into their lives with the arrival of autumn.

Bergman’s first work with his future frequent collaborator Harriet Andersson, (she and the director would embark on an affair during production… and it shows) the film features a spectacular and now-iconic performance from Andersson as Monika, embodying an earthy sensuality, a knowing sexuality and a devilish impetuousness. Despite its apparent simplicity (the film is certainly among the most accessible of Bergman’s works), it displays remarkable maturity for the then 34-year-old director, forming a bridge between his early films and the internationally renowned masterpieces that followed, including The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Persona and Fanny and Alexander.

A highly evocative film that captures both the nostalgia of a sensual dream-like summer romance as well as being groundbreakingly gritty in it’s portrayals of working class life, Summer with Monika proved enormously influential, serving as a template for both the future creations of The French New Wave and the British Kitchen Sink drama. A poignant portrait of young love, infidelity and working-class malaise, it is filled with sumptuous imagery and a youthful breeziness, all deftly handled by a director beginning to fully grasp the power of his own steely-eyed cinematic vision. Don’t miss the chance to experience it on the big screen as we say farewell to our own summer, and let the maestro cast his spell in this defining work of cinema that remains essential viewing for any film lover.

​No hot food or alcohol from outside the premises is allowed. All alcoholic drinks consumed on the premises must be purchased from the bar as per the conditions of the venue’s licence.