''The Girls'' () is a 1968 Swedish-language drama film directed by
Mai Zetterling
Mai Elisabeth Zetterling (; 24 May 1925 – 17 March 1994) was a Swedish film director, novelist and actress.
Early life
Zetterling was born in Västerås, Sweden to a working class family. She started her career as an actor at the age of 17 at ...
, starring
Bibi Andersson
Berit Elisabet Andersson (11 November 1935 – 14 April 2019), known professionally as Bibi Andersson (), was a Swedish actress who was best known for her frequent collaborations with filmmaker Ingmar Bergman.
Early life and career
Andersson ...
,
Harriet Andersson
Harriet Andersson (born 14 February 1932) is a Swedish actress, best known outside Sweden for being part of director Ingmar Bergman's stock company. She often plays impulsive, working class characters.
Film actress
Harriet Andersson began her ...
and
Gunnel Lindblom
Gunnel Märtha Ingegärd Lindblom (18 December 1931 – 24 January 2021) was a Swedish film actress and director.
Career
As an actress, Lindblom was particularly associated with the work of Ingmar Bergman, though in 1965 she performed the l ...
. It is a feminist reinvention of the ancient Greek play ''
Lysistrata
''Lysistrata'' ( or ; Attic Greek: , ''Lysistrátē'', ) is an ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes, originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC. It is a comic account of a woman's mission to end the Peloponnesian War between Greek city ...
'' by
Aristophanes
Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...
, and revolves around a theatre group which sets up the play.
In 2012, the film was voted one of the 25 best Swedish films of all time.
Plot
Liz, Marianne, and Gunilla are three actresses who have been hired to perform in a touring production of ''
Lysistrata
''Lysistrata'' ( or ; Attic Greek: , ''Lysistrátē'', ) is an ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes, originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC. It is a comic account of a woman's mission to end the Peloponnesian War between Greek city ...
''. Each woman faces challenges leaving their homes in order to tour. Marianne has left her married boyfriend and finds it difficult to leave her toddler in the hands of babysitters as she goes on tour. Liz's husband is having an affair and wants her to leave while Gunilla, a mother of four young children, is urged not to leave by her husband who wants her to stay at home to help with the children.
Along the tour they are met with polite indifference as audience members either fail to grasp the meaning of the play or are bored by it. After one performance Liz asks members of the audience to stay behind to discuss the meaning of the play but when she tries to speak to them of the importance of women they do not react and a male member of the company acts as if it is just a continuation of the play and ushers her offstage. Liz's stunt attracts attention from the press but as Liz is not able to identify any one incident that led to her outburst they are dismissive of it. Later all three of the leads go out to dinner and talk over the problem of no one relating to the play wondering if perhaps it would be better if they held a woman only show. At dinner they are bothered by several men and when they turn down the men's advances the men become hostile and only leave after Marianne threatens them.
On the road, a friend of Liz's husband urges her to come home on behalf of her husband, saying he needs a wife to properly support him and his work. Liz argues that she is tired of putting her husband first but her husband's friend argues that her husband's work is more important than hers. She stays on till the end of the play.
The tour finishes and the women return home feeling as though no one is willing to change, but they have at least made people more aware of the misery of their lives. At a party celebrating the end of the play Liz tells the company that she wants to get a divorce.
Cast
*
Bibi Andersson
Berit Elisabet Andersson (11 November 1935 – 14 April 2019), known professionally as Bibi Andersson (), was a Swedish actress who was best known for her frequent collaborations with filmmaker Ingmar Bergman.
Early life and career
Andersson ...
as Liz, actress, "Lysistrate"
*
Harriet Andersson
Harriet Andersson (born 14 February 1932) is a Swedish actress, best known outside Sweden for being part of director Ingmar Bergman's stock company. She often plays impulsive, working class characters.
Film actress
Harriet Andersson began her ...
as Marianne, actress, "Myrrhine"
*
Gunnel Lindblom
Gunnel Märtha Ingegärd Lindblom (18 December 1931 – 24 January 2021) was a Swedish film actress and director.
Career
As an actress, Lindblom was particularly associated with the work of Ingmar Bergman, though in 1965 she performed the l ...
as Gunilla, actress, "Kalonike"
*
Gunnar Björnstrand
Knut Gunnar Johanson (13 November 1909 – 24 May 1986) was a Swedish actor known for his frequent work with writer and director Ingmar Bergman.
Biography
Björnstrand was born Knut Gunnar Johanson in Stockholm as son of actor Oscar Johanson an ...
as Hugo, actor
*
Erland Josephson
Erland Josephson (; 15 June 1923 – 25 February 2012) was a Swedish actor and author. He was best known by international audiences for his work in films directed by Ingmar Bergman, Andrei Tarkovsky and Theodoros Angelopoulos.
Life and career
...
as Carl, stockbroker, married to Liz
*
Frank Sundström
Frank Sundström (16 January 1912 – 8 November 1993) was a Swedish actor. He appeared in more than 30 films and television shows between 1933 and 1989. In 1948 he played the lead in the American film '' Song of My Heart''.
Selected filmo ...
as the doctor, Marianne's lover
*
Åke Lindström
Åke Lindström (22 July 1928 – 26 December 2002) was a Swedish actor, voice actor and film director. He appeared in more than 40 films and television shows between 1950 and 2001.
Selected filmography
* ''The Kiss on the Cruise'' (1950)
* ...
as Bengt, Gunilla’s husband
* Stig Engström as Thommy, actor
*
Ulf Palme
Ulf Henrik Palme (18 October 1920 – 12 May 1993) was a Swedish film actor. He was born in Stockholm and died in Ingarö.
Partial filmography
* '' Black Roses'' (1945) - Gunnar Bergström
* '' The Serious Game'' (1945) - Ture Törne
* ''M ...
as director
*
Leif Liljeroth
Leif Gustav Adolf Liljeroth (18 October 1924 – 25 February 2018) was a Swedish film actor.Sandrew Film & Teater. It was not a financial success upon its initial release. The critics attacked it, few saw it and there was no money for new films. It would take almost twenty years before Zetterling could make her fourth Swedish feature film, '' Amorosa'', which became the director's last film.
The film did have strong supporters. No less a luminary than
Simone de Beauvoir
Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, nor was she ...
called Mai Zetterling’s riotous feature "the best movie ever made by a woman". She wrote in ''
Le Monde
(; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...
,'' “Through a moment in the lives of three women, we sense what it means to be a woman. What a verbal account can only poorly show is the art with which Mai Zetterling tells her story. All the images have multiple dimensions, the theatrical scenes reflect real life, and this touches on the dreams which brings us back to reality. Ironic and comic, this film moves us by the beauty of its landscapes, its poetry and above all the subtle tenderness with which we are shown the feminine faces. It is a great success and I hope that many will see it – men and women – to discover its seductions.”
The film's stature has improved over time. In 2012, the film was voted one of the 25 best Swedish films of all time.
Home video
This film, together with Zetterling's ''Loving Couples'' and ''Night Games'' was released by Criterion Collection in a 3 blu-ray collection ''Three Films by Mai Zetterling'' in December 2022.
Related film
In 1996 a documentary, ''Lines From the Heart'', reuniting ''The Girls'' actors Harriet Andersson, Bibi Andersson, and Gunnel Lindblom was made by director
Christina Olofson
Anna-Maria Christina Olofson (born June 13, 1948 in Kristinehamn, Värmlands län, Sweden) is a Swedish film director, producer and scriptwriter. In 1974, after founding the Hagafilm production company with Göran du Rées, she went on to prod ...