Helander was married to Gunnel Lindblom who was to play Isak's sister Charlotta in the film. Bergman's doctor at Karolinska was his good friend Sture Helander, who invited Ingmar to attend his lectures on psychosomatics. The project had been given the seal of approval by Carl Anders Dymling, who had been shown a short synopsis.

Nevertheless, the screenplay was begun in earnest during his stay in hospital in the spring of 1957. The truth is that I am forever living in my childhood.' In Images: My Life in Film he comments on his own earlier statement: 'That's a lie. Later he would revise the story of the film's genesis. Then it struck me: supposing I make a film of someone coming along, perfectly realistically, and suddenly opening a door and walking into his childhood? And then opening another door and walking out into reality again? And then walking round the corner of the street and coming into some other period of his life, and everything still alive and going on as before? That was the real starting point of Wild Strawberries. He was overcome by a particular feeling: just imagine if the old cook Lalla were to open the door, just as she had done so many times before? In an interview from the 1960s he speaks of a journey to Dalarna during the autumn of 1956 when he stopped off in Uppsala at his grandmothers' house on Slottsgatan. As spring approached he was admitted to Stockholm's Karolinska University Hospital where he remained for almost two months 'for general observation and treatment.' It was during this period that he wrote the screenplay for Wild Strawberries. The summer had been devoted to The Seventh Seal, followed by three productions at the Malmö City Theatre: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Erik XIV and Peer Gynt.

Winter 1956-1957 was a time of intensive and fruitful labour for Bergman.

Wild Strawberries by Ingmar Bergman