"foreign" letters on the blackboard. He cannot. So, Alman reads it for him: "A doctor's first duty is to ask forgiveness," from which he concludes, "You are guilty of guilt." He is confronted by his loneliness and aloofness, recognizing these traits in both his elderly mother (whom they stop to visit) and in his middle-aged physician son, and he gradually begins to accept himself, his past, his present, and his approaching death. Borg finally arrives at his destination and is promoted to Doctor Jubilaris, but this proves to be an empty ritual. That night, he bids a loving goodbye to his young friends, to whom the once bitter old man whispers in response to a playful declaration of the young girl's love, "I'll remember." As he goes to his bed in his son's home, he is overcome by a sense of peace, and dreams of a family picnic by a lake. Closure and affirmation of life have finally come, and Borg's face radiates joy. Cast Victor Sjöström as Professor Isak Borg Bibi Andersson as Sara (both: Isak's cousin/hitchhiker) Ingrid Thulin as Marianne Borg Gunnar Björnstrand as Evald Borg Jullan Kindahl as Agda, Isak's housekeeper Folke Sundquist as Anders, hitchhiker Björn Bjelfvenstam as Viktor, hitchhiker Naima Wifstrand as Isak's Mother Gunnel Broström as Berit Alman, angry wife Gunnar Sjöberg as Sten Alman, angry husband / The Examiner Max von Sydow as Henrik Åkerman, gas station attendant Ann-Marie Wiman as Eva Åkerman Gertrud Fridh as Karin Borg, Isak's wife Åke Fridell as Karin's lover Sif Ruud as Aunt Olga Yngve Nordwall as Uncle Aron Per Sjöstrand as Sigfrid Borg Gio Petré as Sigbritt Borg Gunnel Lindblom as Charlotta Borg Maud Hansson as Angelica Borg Eva Norée as Anna Borg Göran Lundquist as Benjamin Borg Per Skogsberg as Hagbart Borg Lena Bergman as Kristina Borg, twin Monica Ehrling as Birgitta Borg, twin Production Origins Bergman's idea for the film originated on a drive from Stockholm to Dalarna during which he stopped in Uppsala, his hometown. Driving by his grandmother's house, he suddenly imagined how it would be if he could open the door and inside find everything just as it was during his childhood. "So it struck me — what if you could make a film about this; that you just walk up in a realistic way and open a door, and then you walk into your childhood, and then you open another