Eva Dahlbeck
Documentary about the Woman in Ingmar Bergman's Movies
Roman Polanski wrote the screenplay for this searing portrayal of the aftermath of alcoholism starring Mark Burns as Bernie, a silver tongued wanderer with a fondness for drink and no clear goal in life. What was supposed to be a day of fun at the seaside turns to dust as he drinks his way through a seaside resort community, trailing his little niece Winnie (Beatie Edney). Once the alcohol starts flowing, all physical and emotional stability begins to crumble - and it isn't pretty.
A dancer and a Danish student meet on a train; she is going on tour to Rio, and he decides to follow her. Based on the novel by Jens August Schade.
The mountain slopes of Iceland are shown to excellent advantage in the Scandinavian epic Hagbard and Signe. The story, based on an ancient legend, concerns Hagbard (Oleg Vidov), the son of a slain Norse king. Seeking revenge against the rival clan responsible for the killing, Hagbard calms down long enough to establish a truce. He also falls in love with Signe (Gitte Haenning), daughter of his onetime enemy. Signe's former beau, sizzling with jealousy, breaks the truce and makes it appear that Hagbard was responsible. The young prince escapes, but returns disguised as a woman to his beloved Signe. Thanks to a treacherous handmaiden, both lovers are imprisoned and sentenced to be hanged. Rather than undergo this final ignominy, Hagbard and Signe enter into a suicide pact. A Danish/ Swedish/ Icelandic coproduction, Hagbard and Signe was released throughout Scandinavia as Den Rode Kappe, Den Rodda Kappan and Rautha Skikkjan.
Sweden 1889. The young Per Nilsson has a very dominant mother, Anna Månsdotter. His father died many years ago and he and his mother have for a long time been in a incestuous relationship. But Per marries Hanna for the sake of her money and Anna is mean and evil towards her, and Per refuses to have sex with her. She starts to suspect that something is going on between her husband and stepmother.
After a road accident, a writer, Edgar, and his wife, Mylène, take up residence on an island off the coast of France to recuperate. Edgar soon recovers from his injuries and begins writing his next novel, seeking inspiration from the local people. His wife, however, has lost her voice and can only communicate through written notes. The islanders grow suspicious of the reclusive couple, their unease soon turning to aggression. Edgar is equally anxious about his neighbors, particularly a solitary widower, Ducasse, who has taken charge of a large consignment of crates. What secret project is Ducasse engaged in – and can it explain the strange behavior of the islanders?
The family of an old, loathed millionaire named Verner Vade are sick of his dictatorship, and are just waiting for him to fall over and die. When he is attacked one night and disappears, a nosey cops start to investigate. A few days later Verner comes home again, wounded, and is back to his old, angry routines. And the family have had enough.
For her feature film directing debut, actress Mai Zetterling turned to Agnes von Krusenstjerna's controversial masterpiece of Swedish feminist literature, "The Misses von Pahlen," an intense and personal seven-part novel that has been likened to the great works of D.H. Lawrence. As three pregnant women from different backgrounds wait to have their babies in a hospital in Stockholm at the outbreak of the Great War, they relive their childhood and youthful experiences via individual flashbacks. Drawing on the classic Ingmar Bergman style of Swedish filmmaking and collaborating with many of his favorite actors as well as the great cinematographer Sven Nykvist, Zetterling had produced a powerful fusion of personal emotional drama and a commentary on the role of women in a society in moral decline.
The pretentious critic Cornelius is writing a biography on a famous cellist and to do some research he goes to stay in his house for a few days. He doesn't manage to get an interview with the man, but by talking to all the women who live with him, he comes to learn a lot about the musician's private life none the less. Cornelius then decides to use this information and tries to blackmail the cellist into performing a composition that he, Cornelius, has written. Written by Leon Wolters
A young woman owns a garden center outside Stockholm. Her two employees, a Swede and an Italian, has private dreams and desires to meet. The Italian plan to take revenge on a fellow countryman.
Charlie Gedelius has spent the last years abroad as a golf trainer. In Copenhagen, Denmark, he meets young Lena, who happens to be his brother-in-law's mistress. He goes back to Sweden to meet his sister Astrid. Her son Staffan has borrowed money from a money-lender to pay for an abortion for a girl he has met.
Oskar and Mona meet when they come to the Academy of Music to see if they have been accepted, he as a piano student, she a singing student. They become a couple and married but soon there are the frictions. Mona gets hundred crowns from her father, because he thinks she has become so charmless. For it, she buys a perfume called Three Wishes.
Set in a hospital where three women meet either because they have been through an abortion or are due to give birth.
Married couple have romantic interludes in the summer, she at their summer cottage, him in the apartment in town.
About the life of the student, Bo Dahlin. Bo's parents are divorced. Both have been unfaithful. Bo is engaged to Kerstin, but only has eyes for Anita. Anita is filled with self-disgust.
Elin Tarp is an unmarried mother with three children who lives a hard life in the countryside.
Early in the 20th century, middle-aged lawyer Fredrik Egerman and his young wife, Anne, have still not consummated their marriage, while Fredrik's son finds himself increasingly attracted to his new stepmother. To make matters worse, Fredrik's old flame Desiree makes a public bet that she can seduce him at a romantic weekend retreat where four couples convene, swapping partners and pairing off in unexpected ways.
Susanne is a woman in her mid-30s and the owner of a modeling agency in Stockholm. She accompanies her prize model, Doris, on a trip to Gothenburg so that Doris can be photographed. While traveling, both women seek out romance, Susanne with a married lover and Doris with an older gentleman who sees his deceased wife in the young model. The two women struggle to understand their romantic motivations and in the process form an unlikely friendship.
Gösta is a lorry driver and has been married to Birgitta for eight years. Their marriage is only held together by their daughter. Gösta picks up girls along the roads and during a drive to Malmö he stumbles on the singing actress Irene. Gösta is captivated by her romantic presence and her joy of life. Besides picking up women, Gösta is sometimes affected by sudden seizures. His wife is unaware of this.
After 15 years of marriage, David and Marianne have grown apart. David has had an affair with a patient of his and Marianne has got herself involved with her former lover Carl-Adam, who's also David's best friend. When she travels to Copenhagen to meet Carl-Adam, David takes the same train as she does, making it look coincidental. Spending time together remembering their past and talking about their future, they come to understand each other again, which leads to a reconciliation.
"The Shadow" - Erik Vender is a librarian and married to Vivianne. Vivianne was previously married to a well-known lawyer who died when their daughter was very small. One evening, Vivianne asks Erik to read a novel draft "Skuggan/The Shadow". The content strongly touches Erik. Vivianne reveals that it is her ex-husband that wrote the script.
The Village (German: Sie fanden eine Heimat) is a 1953 Swiss drama film directed by Leopold Lindtberg.
Rakel, Marta, Karin and Annette are married to four brothers. While waiting in a summer cottage for their husbands to come home, they tell each other stories about their marriages. Rakel tells about the time she had an affair and confronted her husband with it. Marta's story is about how she at first refused to marry and had her child by herself. Karin tells about what happened when one time she and her husband got stuck in an elevator together. While the women tell their stories, Marta's younger sister Maj is planning to elope.
An apartment building with apartments for single women is the setting for Faustman's drama about a group of women struggling with life and love, in particular with Eva, mistress to a man whose wife Anna also lives in the building.
"Rolling Sea" - After a longer stay at the hospital, the young Martin comes to Gothenburg and notice that his fiancee Sonja has met another man.
Intrigues and entanglements before Prince Paris wins the heart of beautiful Helena. It all happens in the small kingdom of Arcadia at the time of the Trojan War. Swedish version of Jacques Offenbach's operetta of the classic Greek myth.
Based on the novel by Edith Unnerstad about a man, Pip Larsson, who invents a new kind of pot which makes a sound when the stuff you are cooking is ready. As he can't pay the bills he and his family get evicted but luckely they have a couple of carriages they can live in and travel round the country, selling the new kind of pots Pip Larsson has invented.
Lieutenant Anders Canitz is a womanizer and gambler from the upper class. He has spent all of heritage and tries to get to his sister's money by engaging her to invest in a shady business project he is involved in.
Via the New York Times: "Swedish filmmaker Alf Sjöberg's Bara en Mor takes place in a Statare, a farming community where the workers and their families were reduced to virtual serfdom by the landowners. The director uses this setting to decry the restrictive class structure that still existed in Sweden as late as the 1930s. Rya-Rya, the central character played by Eva Dahlbeck, is the mother of a large and ever-expanding brood. Rya-Rya must not only worry about putting food in the mouths of her children, but also reaching the inevitable day when she will have outgrown her usefulness to the landlords -- and must face the loss of her home and land. The drama is heightened by Rya-Rya's passion for two different men. Bara en Mor contained a bit of nudity that caused the film some problems when it was released in the U.S. as Only a Mother."
A drama about a doctor and his wife. She used to be an actress, but became a housewife when she married. When she resumes her acting career the marriage crashes.
Marine Bo Fredriksson is travelling home on a leave. He reminisce about an accident he caused as a 12-year old which killed a young girl, an event that has made him feel revulsion for death. Back home he meets Eva, a girl he fancies and they move together to Stockholm to start a life together.
"Two Women" - Cecilia is in hospital after being subjected to an attempt on her life. Her husband is called to the hospital. Cecilia deliriously mentions a mutual friend. The husband seeks out the friend.
Sixten reluctantly go to a ski resort in Åre to write a script to a movie.
Brita moves from the countryside and her parent's cabbage patch to work as a housemaid in Stockholm. The big city overwhelms her at first and she falls in love with a young man. But one day Arvid, an infatuated young man from the old village also comes to Stockholm to express his love for her.
A journalist is writing a critical article about the prison service in Sweden. The magazine's editor in chief does not agree with him and removes the article. The journalist then plans to fake a crime to gain knowledge about life in prison.
Arvid share the love with a young woman named Lydia, but as is customary at the turn of the century, is not love enough for a fairy tale to come true. While Arvid struggling to create the basis for their existence, Lydia's thirst for the good life leads her to marrying an older wealthy man.
The old Victor Branzell has a grandson, Alf, who is in love with a clerk in a glove shop, Lilian Lind. But Lilian with her simple background doesn't get accepted in the circles where Alf belongs, and they have now reached the conclusion that they can't have a future together. Marriage is impossible. Victor summons Lilian and Alf and starts telling them his life story.
"Ride tonight!" - In the south of Sweden, some farmers get into trouble when the German Count is forcing them to perform day labor for him. But a man refuses to bow to the German Count.
