''Summer with Monika'' () is a 1953 Swedish

romance film Romance films involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their ...

. The motion picture was both written and directed by

Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film and theatre director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential film directors of all time, his films have been described as "profoun ...

. This featured Harriet Andersson and Lars Ekborg portraying the main characters. The plot was derived from one of Per Anders Fogelström's novels, of which had the same title, from 1951. Controversial because of one scene portrayal of au naturel and, along with the film '' One Summer of Happiness'' from the year before, directed by

Arne Mattsson Arne Mattsson (2 December 1919 – 28 June 1995) was a Sweden, Swedish film director. Biography Born in Uppsala, the early films of Mattsson were mostly Comedy, comedies. His biggest success was ''One Summer of Happiness, Hon dansade en sommar ...

, contributed to an idea of Sweden as an immodest, sexually loose population. The film made a star of its lead actress, Andersson. Bergman had been intimately involved with Andersson at the time and conceived the film as a vehicle for her. The two of them would continue to work together, even after their romantic relationship had ended, in films like '' Sawdust and Tinsel'', '' Smiles of a Summer Night'', '' Through a Glass Darkly'', and '' Cries and Whispers''.

Plot

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, the young working-class Harry meets Monika, an adventurous young woman, in a cafe near to his workplace. Monika invites Harry to join her to see a movie at the local cinema after his work shift. The two spend the rest of the evening together, and find themselves enamored of one another. At her home, Monika tires of her alcoholic father's incessant drinking and violent outbursts, packs her belongings and runs away. She seeks help from Harry, who goes to spend the night with her in his father's docked boat. After getting into an argument with his boss the following morning, Harry quits his job. The two decide to leave the city, and take the boat into the

Stockholm Archipelago The Stockholm Archipelago () is the largest archipelago in Sweden, and the second-largest archipelago in the Baltic Sea (the largest being the Archipelago Sea across the Baltic in Finland). Part of the archipelago has been designated as a Rams ...

, where they spend an idyllic summer together. When the end of the summer forces them to return home, it is clear that Monika is pregnant. Harry happily accepts responsibility and settles down with Monika and their child; he gets a real job and goes to night school to provide for his family. Monika, however, is unsatisfied with her role as homemaker. She yearns for excitement and adventure, a desire which finally leads her astray. Harry leaves town for work and comes home a day early to find his wife with another man. After deciding to separate and in his rage at her flippancy, Harry hits her and leaves the apartment. They get a divorce and Monika flees the responsibility of child rearing leaving Harry with custody of their daughter, June, to raise alone. In the final shot while he looks in a mirror, he fantasizes about the time they spent together.

Cast

US release

In 1955, two years after the film was released in Sweden, a high-profile article "Sin & Sweden" was written in ''Time'' magazine, about living conditions in a secularized Swedish society. The debate in the US that followed, in the midst of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, was marked by conservative hostility to anything resembling socialism. This and above all commercial interests contributed to the exploitation market's interest in the concept of Swedish sin. Also in 1955,

exploitation film An exploitation film is a film that seeks commercial success by capitalizing on current trends, niche genres, or sensational content. Exploitation films often feature themes such as suggestive or explicit sex, sensational violence, drug use, nudi ...

presenter Kroger Babb purchased the US rights to the film. To increase excitement for the film, he edited it down to 62 minutes and emphasized the film's nudity. Renaming the film ''Monika, the Story of a Bad Girl'', he provided a good deal of suggestive promotional material, including postcards featuring the nude Andersson. Eric Schaefer, ''Bold! Daring! Shocking! True!: A History of Exploitation Films, 1919–1959'' (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1999; ). The exploitation version of Bergman’s film successfully played rural drive-in theatres for years, unaffected by the fact that a year later it was re-contracted, this time with Janus Films, to let the uncut, subtitled version play at art-theaters as well. The film was thus available to two different types of American audiences simultaneously.

Reception

''Summer with Monika'' has a 100% approval rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

References

External links

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''Summer with Monika: Summer Dreaming''
an essay by Laura Hubner at the

Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". A "sister company" of arthouse film distributo ...