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 . " The studio bosses have booked a hotel room for Bergman , complete with a " Hollywood Welcoming Committee " – a hooker they hope will persuade him to accept their offer – and a limo shuttles Bergman from meeting to meeting . Visiting " The Studio Commissary " , he is brought face to face with the many European directors who went to make films in Hollywood : Billy Wilder , Fritz Lang , F. W. Murnau , Jacques Tourneur , Josef von Sternberg , and Alfred Hitchcock , all apparently happy to work in Hollywood : " Alfred Hitchcock , bless his soul , there chomping on a dinner roll , '' The Man Who Knew Too Much '' done twice , in Hollywood , done twice as nice " . Bergman is tempted by the prospect of secure funding for his film projects and feels he " must not be hasty " in rejecting the proposal
1956 Cannes Film Festival
1956 Cannes Film Festival
The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman