''One Summer of Happiness'' ( sv, Hon dansade en sommar - She danced for a summer) is a 1951 Swedish film by director Arne Mattsson, based on the 1949 novel ''Sommardansen'' (''The Summer Dance'') by Per Olof Ekström. It was the first Swedish film to win the

Golden Bear The Golden Bear (german: Goldener Bär) is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival. The bear is the heraldic animal of Berlin, featured on both the coat of arms and flag of Berlin. History The win ...

at the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the fest ...

. It was also nominated for the

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

at the 1952

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

. Today, the film is mainly known for its nude scenes, which caused much controversy at the time and, together with Ingmar Bergman's '' Summer with Monika'' (1953), spread the image of Swedish "free love" around the world.

Plot

The film tells the story about the university student Göran who spends a summer on his uncle's farm, where he meets the young Kerstin. They instantly fall in love, but Kerstin is ruled by very strict relatives, so they must hide their love story from everyone, not the least from the extremely strict

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

. They experience an intense summer together, and Göran dreads the idea of returning to university in the autumn. A twist of fate changes their lives forever.

Cast

* Ulla Jacobsson as Kerstin *

Folke Sundquist Folke Sundquist (4 November 1925 – 13 January 2009) was a Swedish film actor. He appeared in 21 films between 1951 and 1968. He starred part in the 1951 ''One Summer of Happiness'' (1951), which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Internatio ...

as Göran * Edvin Adolphson as Anders Persson * Irma Christenson as Sigrid * John Elfström as The Vicar *

Nils Hallberg Nils Hallberg (18 September 1921 – 8 October 2010) was a Swedish actor. He appeared in 90 films between 1934 and 1974. Selected filmography * '' Andersson's Kalle'' (1934) * ''The Boys of Number Fifty Seven'' (1935) * ''The Lady Becomes ...

as Nisse * Gunvor Pontén as Sylvia * Berta Hall as Anna * Axel Högel as Kerstin's Grandfather

Reception

The film caused much international controversy, because of a nude swimming sequence and a love scene which included a close-up of Ulla Jacobsson's breasts, but also because of its very anti-clerical message by portraying a local priest as the main villain. So, in spite of its awards, the film was banned in Spain and several other countries, and was not widely released in the United States until 1955, although it was showing in San Francisco as early as October 1953.

Awards

;Won * 2nd Berlin International Film Festival -

* 1952 Cannes Film Festival - Best Music. ;Nominated * 1952 Cannes Film Festival -

References

External links