As I mentioned previously in a previous essay (Bergquist, 2026c), important dreams often portray moments of sensory pleasure, accompanied by a loving relationship with another person who is also savoring this pleasure. As is often the case, this experience of joy and even Awe, that intertwines sensory pleasure with interpersonal pleasure, is often accompanied by an equally painful experience of regret, for this type of experience is usually elusive and hard to recapture in real life. Izak brings his temporary admiration of Sara—an external event—into his dream-like recollection of a past experience, that, in turn, evokes a present-day experience of both joyful and painful remembrance.
We find a display of marital discord in Isak’s journey between the second and third dream. Two other people join Isak, Marianne, and the three hitchhikers. They are a married middle-aged couple who begin to bicker while in the car. Eventually, Marianne asks to leave the car. And they comply, expressing considerable embarrassment and growing resentment of one another. This disturbing external event helps to precipitate another of Izak’s dreams.
The third dream has obvious dream characteristics. It’s a bizarre and illogical two-part story. There is first of all segment of the dream that is frequently dreamt by those who have achieved an academic degree. The dreamer is forced to take an exam, even though they graduated many years ago. They often fail the exam, as was the case with Izak. Everything is uneasy about the first segment of the dream. During the exam, Izak is unable to recognize words and unable to use the microscope. And here we have a retired professor and physician who is being honored but can’t even pass this simple exam. As I have noted several times in this essay, the theme of imposter is not uncommon in the dreams of many people who have aspired in their life to some form of greatness – and worry about being “found out.”
The second part of the dream offered yet another humiliating moment for Izak. He catches his wife openly cheating on him. The wife’s infidelity is cold and even more painful: he has to forgive her, but this is not easy, given that he is living in a fortress. His wife in the dream declares: “Now I’ll go home and tell Isak. I know what he’ll say. ‘My poor girl, I’m sorry for you.’ Just as if he were God. Then I’ll weep and say, ‘do you really feel sorry for me?’ He’ll say, ‘Yes, very sorry.’ Then I’ll weep even more and ask him to forgive me. He’ll say, ‘You mustn’t beg my forgiveness. There is nothing to forgive.’ But he doesn’t mean a word he says, because he’s cold as ice.” He is I.B. – icily fortified. Karin and the man with whom she is having an affair suddenly disappear. Isak asks where they have gone too. The answer is, “gone…all gone. Removed by an operation Professor. A surgical masterpiece. No pain. Nothing that bleeds or trembles.” Isak asks what the punishment is for this. The answer, “loneliness.”
In his dream, the failure of Izak’s marriage is fully attributed to him. The pain Izak is suffering when awake is providing him with even more reasons to fortify himself. And with this further fortification comes loneliness. Hidden in his fortress, Isak is alienated from other people. Apparently, the script for this film was written during Ingmar Bergman’s unfortunate period in his marriage, when he had separated from his third wife and was still feeling the pain.
The fourth dream occurs after Izak received his honorary doctorate at Lund University. The three young hitchhikers join Marianne in attending this ceremony. Marianne has also shared some personal reflections regarding her own marriage to Izaks’ son, who is just as cold and fortified as his father. At one point, Marianne asked the old man: “And what vices may a woman have?” Isak responds, “Weeping, giving birth and speaking ill of her neighbors.” Marianne responds, “I still love you, and don’t regret being born because of you.”
