Table Of Content

A Cinema of Obsession Wisconsin Film Studies Pat rick McGil li gan Se ries Ed i tor A Cinema of The Life and Work Obsession of Mai Zetterling Mariah Larsson The University of Wisconsin Press The University of Wisconsin Press 728 State Street, Suite 443 Madison, Wisconsin 53706 uwpress.wisc.edu Gray’s Inn House, 127 Clerkenwell Road London EC1R 5DB, United Kingdom eurospanbookstore.com Copyright © 2019 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System All rights reserved. Except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles and reviews, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any format or by any means—digital, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise— or conveyed via the Internet or a website without written permission of the University of Wisconsin Press. Rights inquiries should be directed to [email protected]. Printed in the United States of America This book may be available in a digital edition. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Larsson, Mariah, 1972- author. Title: A cinema of obsession: the life and work of Mai Zetterling / Mariah Larsson. Other titles: Wisconsin film studies. Description: Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, [2019] | Series: Wisconsin film studies Identifiers: LCCN 2019008294 | ISBN 9780299322304 (cloth: alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Zetterling, Mai, 1925-1994—Criticism and interpretation. | Zetterling, Mai, 1925-1994. | Motion picture actors and actresses— Sweden—Biography. | Motion picture producers and directors— Sweden—Biography. Classification: LCC PN2778.Z48 L37 2019 | DDC 791.4302/8092 [B]—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019008294 Contents List of Illustrations vii Acknowledgments ix Introduction 3 1 The Star as Documentarist and Filmmaker: 1959–1963 18 2 Return to Sweden as a Feature Filmmaker: 1964–1966 39 3 The Tide Turns: 1967–1969 61 4 Isolation and Obsession: 1970–1973 85 5 Transnational Feminist Filmmaking: 1974–1980 101 6 Returning to Fiction in Film and Television: 1981–1989 121 Epilogue: Nevertheless, She Persisted 146 v vi n Contents Notes 157 Films by Mai Zetterling 173 Bibliography 175 Index 187 Illustrations Ian Ellis in The War Game (1963) 32 Joseph Robinson in The War Game (1963) 32 Mai Zetterling directing Harriet Andersson in Loving Couples (1964) 45 Ingrid Thulin and Jörgen Lindström in Night Games (1966) 51 Lissi Alandh in Night Games (1966) 52 Ad for Loving Couples (1964) in UK newspaper 59 Mai Zetterling at the Cannes Film Festival, 1968 62 Per Oscarsson and Lone Hertz in Doctor Glas (1968) 67 vii viii n Illustrations Lone Hertz and Ulf Palme in Doctor Glas (1968) 69 Gunnel Lindblom and Kai Norström in Loving Couples (1964) 71 Bibi Andersson, Margreth Weivers, and Leif Liljeroth in The Girls (1968) 78 Gunnel Lindblom and Åke Lindström in The Girls (1968) 78 Obsession and isolation in “The Strongest” (1973) 98 Mai Zetterling in We Have Many Names (1976) 109 Zetterling as Strindberg in Mai Zetterling’s Stockholm (1979) 114 Mai Zetterling directing Chrissie Cotterill and Honey Bane in Scrubbers (1982) 125 Ad for Scrubbers, 1982 128 Stina Ekblad and Erland Josephson in Amorosa (1986) 135 Stina Ekblad in Amorosa (1986) 136 Stina Ekblad and Erland Josephson in Amorosa (1986) 138 Acknowledgments First, I want to thank Patrick McGilligan. On a not so quiet evening of pasta and boxed wine in Lund, Sweden, Patrick inspired me to think of Mai Zetterling as a possible international book project, while my hus- band, Olof Hedling, encouraged me. Mai Zetterling has been in my mind, intermittently, for more than twenty years. Accordingly, there are many people I am indebted to, for their support, advice, constructive comments, or remarks that seren- dipitously put me on the right track. Among them are Tytti Soila, who screened Doctor Glas as part of a course on feminist film theory at Stock- holm University in 1996 and thereby opened my eyes to Zetterling the filmmaker. She was later the external reviewer of my doctoral disser- tation and ever since then, a great discussion partner in all Zetterling matters. Others are the always insightful and astute reader Lars Gustaf Andersson; Maaret Koskinen, whose knowledge of Swedish film ex- tends vastly beyond Ingmar Bergman; and Anna Westerståhl Stenport, with whom I collaborated on Zetterling’s Arctic films in fruitful ways. In addition, Ola Törjas, Krister Collin, and others at the Swedish Film Institute library and archive have been very helpful. Several librarians— at Linnaeus University, the Royal Library, and the Swedish Labor Movements Archive and Library—have devoted time and effort to helping me with elusive references. Thank you, Anna Linder, for re- sponding so quickly and so kindly to my emails! Beate Schirrmacher ix