The author was influenced by the movie, Wild Strawberries. Why do you suppose the film affected him the way it did? Do you recall ever being similarly influenced by the plot of a movie or book?

The author reports being influenced by the movie, Wild Strawberries. "We were one and the same," he writes of the protagonist, "his fate was mine unless I did something to alter it" (p. 105). Why do you suppose the film affected him the way it did? Do you recall ever being similarly influenced by the plot of a movie or book?

(Wild Strawberries is available to view for free on YouTube, e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxBY5kmUZR0. It is also available to stream on Amazon Prime, Max and Apple TV.)

I think it was one of those right-time-right-movie kinds of things. He might not have been thinking about it consciously, but I imagine his concerns were floating around in his head. The movie just brought them to the fore.

I had the same experience with, believe it or not, George Michael's debut album, Faith. For some reason it really highlighted the inadequacies of my marriage and made me realize there was a whole world out there where things were better. I won't say it caused my divorce, but it sparked an awareness that did lead to it.

The plot of the movie seemed to reflect where Kanigel saw himself and therefore worried him that he could be headed in a similar direction. Though I can’t say I’ve had a similar experience, I do find myself reflecting on my life after reading a book that I feel I have some aspects in common, or wish I did. However I have not acted on any of the reflection.

Never saw that movie but I believe a movie or a book seen or read at an important moment in one's life can have an impact. He got engaged the first time at a very young age and really had just started to come into himself so I can see how a movie about a man facing death and questioning the choices he made could influence Kanigel. Can't say if any movie or book had that kind of influence on me but what I can say and what I think Kanigel is writing about is that self reflection can be powerful.

Some movies do that to you. Books do too. Maybe he saw his life going along in the same way and didn’t want that. The movie that had an effect on me was DEAD POET SOCIETY with Robin Williams.

I have had movies and books touch me deeply, but not to the extent that Wild Strawberries seemed to have touched Robert. Clearly, he was searching for a direction or answer and the movie led him to fully know what he had been thinking or fearing would happen to him.

It seems that sometimes you will see something that hits you in that moment. My own experience has been that a book can help me see that I can be or do more than I am doing. The author seemed to be looking for something and found it.

I think Kanigel needed a catalyst to help him reevaluate his life, and the movie came about at just the right time in terms of where his life was and his receptivity to making changes.

Sometimes timing is well, everything .. or almost anyway. There are books I read years ago and very much liked. However, when I've tried to reread them, I don't see what it was that I enjoyed. Also the reverse!

I have certainly been influenced by a few books and movies through the years that brought to mind a concept that I wanted to apply to my life, Or that helped me connect to my true personality. I tried to watch Wild Strawberries because I have Swedish heritage and have travelled through that country a couple of times in my life. I found the movie one that I wasn't interested in watching.