It’s impossible to resist the sweetness of strawberries and in the film world they know it. There are several movies with mythical scenes where strawberries are equally, or even more important, than the protagonists of the film.
We mean more than desserts or strawberry-based sweets stuffing down our throats every time when we see them appear in the movies. We want to refer to those films in which the strawberry serves as an image for crucial moments of the stories. Without even trying, three movies come to mind that every lover of good cinema should know: Wild Strawberries (Smultronstället), Strawberry and Chocolate (Fresa y Chocolate) and The place of Strawberries (El lugar de las fresas).
Wild Strawberries, 1957
For many filmmakers, Wild Strawberries is the best film by Ingmar Bergman. However, for others it’s overrated, despite considering it a deep and elegant film of technical perfection. What is certain is that this Nordic road movie is one of the most relevant and influential films in European cinema.
Bergman shows us in this work the story of a journey towards recognition and death, with a cast of characters that join the protagonists sporadically. In this film we discover a spectacular Victor Sjöstrom in the skin of doctor Isak Borg, accompanied by Ingrid Thulin playing Marianne, the doctor’s daughter-in-law. However, Bibi Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrand, Folke Sundquist, Björn Bjelvenstam, Naima Wifstrand, Jullan Kindahl, Max von Sydow, Ake Fridell make an extraordinary contribution to the cast of this cult film.
Strawberry and Chocolate, 1993
This Cuban / Spanish / Mexican co-production, co-directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío, tells a tale of friendship between two very different young Cubans. David is a young university student and a communist while Diego is a young cultured artist, homosexual, individualist and skeptic, unhappy with the Castro regime’s attitude toward the LGTB community as well as the censored conceptualization of culture. Despite having a somewhat disturbing first encounter and very different ideological and personal ideas, overtime leads these two young people to cultivate a deep, sincere and emotional friendship that’ll leave no one indifferent.
The protagonists of this story are Jorge Perugorría (Diego) and Vladimir Cruz Domínguez (David), although the cast doesn’t stop there. Mirtha Ibarra, Francisco Gattorno, Joel Angelino, Marilyn Solaya, Andrés Cortina and Antonio Carmona leave their mark in an LGTB-themed film that has made history.
The place of Strawberries, 2013
It’s the first directed, produced and written film by Maite Vitoria Daneris. This documentary film tells the story of «an old Italian peasant with a lot of work, a Moroccan immigrant who has just arrived to Italy and a young Spanish filmmaker. From a casual encounter in the largest open-air market in Europe … a different look towards a new world «.
The place of Strawberries narrates the story of these characters, filmed throughout seven years through the eyes of the young Spanish filmmaker, Maite Vitoria Daneris, who traveled to Turin with the idea of staying a few weeks and returned to her country 10 years later with a movie in her hands.
As happens with the two previous films, The place of Strawberries has won prestigious awards that’ll surely turn it into another cult film where the strawberry has a crucial role.
Strawberry Shortcake
Without discrediting the world of cinema, we cannot fail to mention the Adventures of Strawberry Shortcake, an American child character that has conquered the heart of the youngest in the family since the 1970s.
The physical representation of this doll consists of a redheaded girl with a hat with a strawberry on its top that always smells of strawberries. Needless to say, Strawberry Shortcake is always accompanied by her faithful pet Custard and other friends.
Currently, in addition to the doll, the little ones of the youngest in the family can enjoy the adventures of Strawberry Shortcake on the TV series. It takes place in Strawberryland, where the fruits are bigger and juicier all year round. Of course, the series has a good dose of villains with The Peculiar Purple Pieman of Porcupine Peak, who believes the best way to get strawberries is taking them from Strawberry Shortcake, and Sour Grapes, who hates everything good and joyful.
