Naima Wifstrand gives older women authority without making them reassuring. We rate her compact, restrained performances for Ingmar Bergman: she can steady a romantic comedy or make a family’s emotional distance feel harder to escape.
Fi1m perspective
As Desirée’s mother in Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), Naima Wifstrand treats romantic complications as something she has long since learnt to recognise. Her world-weariness gives the comedy an older witness who is difficult to impress. We like the restraint: she makes the lovers look foolish without spoiling the film’s affection for them. Eva Dahlbeck and Harriet Andersson are particular pleasures in the ensemble, but Wifstrand matters to its balance: her world-weariness leaves room for other people’s folly. Bergman’s comedy occasionally becomes too elaborate, but there is nothing laboured about this sharp-witted mother.
Her film acting carries years of theatrical experience. She had been a leading operetta soprano before moving into spoken drama, and her film work became more substantial in the 1940s. The strong vocal delivery survives the change of medium, while the performances often remain understated. That combination suits supporting characters who need to establish their authority without much time to do it. Her collaboration with Ingmar Bergman also extended to his Malmö Stadsteater ensemble, where she worked from 1954 to 1961.
In Wild Strawberries (1957), her reserve is less companionable. As Isak’s mother, she helps make the film’s emotional distance a family matter rather than just a trait of its isolated professor. We found her restraint unsettling, because there is so little reassurance in this mother’s presence. Victor Sjöström makes Isak worth caring about without excusing him, and Wifstrand’s stoicism sits usefully beside that performance. When Bergman presses the symbolism too hard, this sort of restrained acting is especially welcome.
Her other Bergman roles include Granny Vogler, the enigmatic elder of the travelling troupe in The Magician (1958), and the Old Lady with Hat in Hour of the Wolf (1968), her final screen role. Those are small, atmospheric contributions, with limited room to develop a character. We would be wary of making grand claims for her from these parts alone, though the precision of her supporting work is reason enough to pay attention. Start with Smiles of a Summer Night, where she is allowed to be funny as well as authoritative.
Biography
Naima Wifstrand was a Swedish actress and operetta singer. Born Siri Naima Matilda Wifstrand in Stockholm on 4 September 1890, she made her stage debut in 1905 and became a leading performer in operettas across Sweden and Scandinavia in the 1910s and 1920s.
She later worked as a character actress on stage and in film. Wifstrand appeared in several Ingmar Bergman productions, including as Mrs Armfeldt in Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), Isak's mother in Wild Strawberries (1957), Granny Vogler in The Magician (1958) and the old lady with a hat in Hour of the Wolf (1968). She died in Stockholm on 23 October 1968.
