 The story is set in the mid @-@ 1950s , shortly after Bergman 's award win at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival for Smiles of a Summer Night . After his return to Stockholm , Bergman feels compelled to go to a cinema and watch a Hollywood blockbuster movie . As he exits the cinema , he inexplicably finds himself transported to Hollywood , where a limo driver is waiting to take him to a film studio . The studio 's executives , who give Bergman a lavish welcome , are desperate to entice him to stay in Hollywood and make movies for them , the American way : " We 're not hicks , but we must deliver kicks . " 
