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This program was organized by the Film Society of Lincoln Center in collaboration with the Swedish Film Institute. Special thanks to the Swedish Institute, Svensk Filmindustri, Sandrews Film and the Consulate General of Sweden in New York for their help and support of the series.
Join us during the first two weeks of April for an all-too-brief survey of classic and recent films from Sweden. One of the world's great film traditions, the Swedish cinema has produced a number of artists of the first rank whose achievements have at times overshadowed the work of their very talented contemporaries. Only in the past decade have the silent films of Georg af Klerker come to be ranked with better-known works by Victor Sjöström and Mauritz Stiller. Similarly, one must realize that Ingmar Bergman, though the quintessential modern filmmaker, was part of a cinema that also produced major works by such artists as Jan Troell, Hasse Ekman, and Bo Widerberg. Swedish cinema today faces the same challenges as do other European cinemas—growth of TV systems, dominance of Hollywood product—yet this tradition persists in commerical and artistic strength, continuing to attract large home audiences as well as nurturing provocative new filmmakers such as Daniel Bergman, Kjell-Åke Andersson and Daniel Alfredsson.
Note: all films are subtitled in English.
TIC TAC
Daniel Alfredson, 1997; 96 minutes
"A clever blend of narrative styles of Short Cuts and Pulp Fiction, TIC TAC is
one of the most interesting films to come out of Sweden in a long time."
— Variety
During one 24-hour period in the city of Stockholm, a batch of mismatched types cross paths and find themselves living through a night to remember, when chance changes them forever. Kent and Ylva are trying to travel to Australia, the other side of the world; bar-owner Giuseppe worries about his pregnant daughter's cramped quarters, while her cop husband receives some unorthodox assistance from a fellow officer; immigrant Pedro makes a strange proposition to skinheads Lasse and Jorma; and Micke's plan to burn down his school is temporarily put on hold when he meets the girl who makes her home in the school's attic.
Wednesday, April 1: 2 and 6:15 pm
Thursday, April 9: 9:20 pm
ADAM AND EVA
Hannes Holm & Måns Herngren, 1997; 100 minutes
In this pointed and poignant comedy about the lives and loves of thirtysomethings, Adam and Eva start out promising to love each other for eternity. Some years later, the lovers realize just how very long eternity is; when efforts to improve their relationship fail, Adam and Eva begin to make alternate and very separate plans....
Wednesday, April 1: 4 and 9 pm
Wednesday, April 8: 4:15 pm
PRIVATE CONFESSIONS / ENSKILDA SAMTAL
Liv Ullmann, 1996; 131 minutes
Pernilla August, Best Actress,
Silver Hugo, Chicago Film Festival
This continuation of the material in Bille August's The Best Intentions—drawn from the lives of Ingmar Bergman's parents—is densely scripted by Bergman, luminously shot by Sven Nykvist, strongly directed by Liv Ullmann (star of nine films by Bergman) and stars the incomparable Max von Sydow and outstanding Pernilla August, reprising their roles in The Best Intentions. Originally shot for Swedish TV, PRIVATE CONFESSIONS is divided into five "conversations" between Anna Bergman (August) and her priest, lover, husband. In their Rashomon-like revelations of a woman's soul, these "confessions" recall the emotional unravelling of secrets and lies in Bergman's own Scenes from a Marriage.
Thursday, April 2: 2 pm
Friday, April 3: 6 pm
JERUSALEM
Bille August, 1996; 167 minutes
Adapted from Nobel Prize winner Selma Lagerlöf's epic novel, JERUSALEM is based on a true story that took place a century ago—a story that has all the resonance of today's headlines. When a charismatic and messianic preacher arrives in a small Swedish village, the lives of two young lovers are torn apart. As the converted villagers begin to sell all their earthly belongings and move to the Holy Land, the young man and woman face devastating choices that will alter their lives forever. JERUSALEM is a magnificent story of sacrifice and the power of love. With Pernilla August, Max von Sydow, and Olympia Dukakis.
Friday, April 3: 2 pm
Saturday, April 4: 6 pm
Sunday, April 5: 8:30 pm
EXPECTATIONS aka SWEDISH HEROES
Daniel Bergman, 1997; 110 minutes
SWEDISH HEROES is based on a series of short stories by Reidar Jonsson, author of the heartbreakingly wry My Life as a Dog (filmed by Lasse Hallström)—so be prepared for a bracing mixture of comedy and tragedy in this story of contemporary Swedes from every corner of the country and their dreams of love and better lives. Chronicling their relationships, their greed and selfishness, their generosity and compassion during one full year, HEROES transcends documentary realism as it grapples with some of the thorniest themes and problems prevalent in the culture of Sweden.
Friday, April 3: 9:15 pm
Wednesday, April 8: 2 and 6:15 pm
THEIR FROZEN DREAM
Jan Troell, 1997; 57 minutes
The hair-raising story of the attempt by three Swedes to reach the North Pole by balloon in 1897, THEIR FROZEN DREAM is based on authentic images, letters, diaries and photos. Much of this fascinating material was found in 1930 when the remains of the expedition were discovered—preserved in ice—on a remote island in the Polar Sea. Jan Troell is well known for award-winning films from The Emigrants in 1972 to Hamsun in 1996; and his Flight of the Eagle (1983) was a fictional treatment of the story of THEIR FROZEN DREAM.
with
DANCING
Jan Troell, 1994; 20 minutes:
Movement, glances, color and rhythm; spontaneous children, street dancing, passionate flamenco and authentic Isadora Duncan sequences: Troell's vision of dance is not only about interaction between men and women, but also between different cultures, generations and social classes.
Saturday, April 4: 4 pm
Thursday, April 9: 4:30 pm
CHRISTMAS ORATORIO
Kjell-Åke Andersson, 1996; 124 minutes
"A sad and beautiful story of the power
of love...." -- Variety
One sweet summer day, in Sweden's Varmland province, a lovely young woman bicycles to a village church to rehearse Bach's Christmas Oratorio. When an accident cuts short this promising life, it also casts a long shadow over the grieving husband who eventually turns to a shortwave-radio love affair with a lonely girl in New Zealand as well as her son, who grows up to fall in love with an eccentric older woman. Adapted from Goran Tunstrom's novel, CHRISTMAS chronicles—in flashback—the gripping saga of a 60-year journey through three generations that comes full circle to a pleasant autumn day when the dream of the Christmas Oratorio is finally fulfilled.
Saturday, April 4: 9:15 pm
Wednesday, April 8: 8:30 pm
Thursday, April 9: 2 pm
WHITE LIES / VITA LÖGNER
Mats Arehn, 1995; 120 minutes
In the 1950s, actor Palle Hagmann is driven by ambitious dreams of fame and success, and he's got the charm and charisma to draw others into the pursuit of those dreams. Asked to put on a big Helsinki variety show, Palle figures he's finally hit the jackpot. Problem is, the actor's a dud at managing money. As more and more administrative difficulties arise, Palle resorts to a packet of "white lies"—all of which, inevitably, catch up with the hapless producer.
Sunday, April 5: 6:15 pm
Friday, April 10: 2 and 6:15 pm
THE VOICE OF BERGMAN / BERGMAN'S ROST
Gunnar Bergdahl, 1996; video, 87 minutes
"The cinema generates a kind of insanity....
It's a kind of almost erotic excitement...."
— Ingmar Bergman
Throughout his 55-year-long career, pantheon director Ingmar Bergman has always been wonderfully articulate about his own work, the art of filmmaking, and the role of the contemporary artist. Ten years have passed since Bergman's last on-screen interview. In film critic Gunnar Bergdahl's first movie, we are invited to visit with the Old Master as he holds forth through eight enthralling "acts"—The Word and the Image, The Illusion of Time, The Music of Close-up, Focus of Pain, Shards from the Mirror, The Cinema on Faro, The Insanity of Film, The Great Mystery.
Saturday, April 11: 4 pm
Sunday, April 12: 6 pm
Monday, April 13: 8 pm
Tuesday, April 14: 2 pm
RUN FOR YOUR LIFE / SPRING FOR LIVET
Richard Hobert, 1997; 90 minutes
As this unsettling thriller begins, an ordinary couple—Catti and Mikael—welcome the birth of their first child in a maternity ward. Another new mother, a foreigner with little grasp of the Swedish language, is suddenly whisked away by the police. On impulse and with the assistance of a resident midwife, Catti smuggles Maria's baby out of the ward and embarks, along with Mikael, on a journey to find its parents—a dangerous journey that takes this couple far beyond their secure lives into a darker, more brutal side of Sweden.
Saturday, April 11:
6 pm
Sunday, April 12:
7:45 pm
Monday, April 13:
4 pm
CLASSICS OF SWEDISH CINEMA
THE MYSTERY OF THE NIGHT OF THE 25TH
Georg af Klercker; 1915, 60 minutes, silent, with live piano accompaniment
Reminiscent of Louis Feuillade's thrillers, MYSTERY features Cony Hoops, the celebrated detective. After a murderer Hoops captures at a party vows revenge, the Black Band gang traps the detective in a dark cottage, binding him to a chair with a time bomb ticking away beside him. Does our hero escape when the cottage is blown to smithereens? For the answer, sit tight for one fantastic adventure after another as director Klercker offers up consistently surprising visual effects—such as fluorescent shots of a torch pointed into the camera as a villain advances down a narrow stairway, and the eye-tricking "secret mirror door" at Valincourt Castle.
Sunday, April 5: 4:15 pm
HERE'S YOUR LIFE
Jan Troell, 1968; 169 minutes
Troell unreels a wonderful chronicle of the life of Olof (Eddie Axberg), from the age of 14 in 1914 up to his young manhood at the end of WWI. Lauded as a masterwork, this sensitive film allows us to share Olof's pain and pleasure along the path to adulthood: his first job; his love affair with movies; his new, nervous sexuality; his developing political awareness; and the relationships that season him emotionally. With a host of Bergman regulars, including Gunnar Björnstrand, Per Oscarsson, Åke Fridell, Max von Sydow, et al.
Tuesday, April 7: 2 pm
Thursday, April 9: 6:15 pm
Saturday, April 11: 8 pm
ELVIRA MADIGAN
Bo Widerberg, 1967; 90 minutes
Based on a ballad by Johan Lindstrom Saxon, MADIGAN reenacts a famous, ill-starred 19th-century love affair between a tightrope performer and an army lieutenant. Backed by Mozart and Vivaldi, exquisitely photographed by Jurgen Persson, the lovers (Pia Degermark and Thommy Berggren) run away from everything that would hinder their romance—until reality catches up with them. An art-house smash much imitated (and often lampooned).
Friday, April 10: 4:15 and 8:30 pm
Sunday, April 12
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