Loving Couples / Älskande par (1964) [The Criterion Collection]

Director: Mai Zetterling
Writers: Agnes von Krusenstjerna (based on the novel "Froeknarna von Pahlen" by), Mai Zetterling (screenplay), David Hughes (screenplay)
Stars: Harriet Andersson, Gunnel Lindblom, Gio Petré

Three Films by Mai Zetterling
A fearlessly transgressive, long-overlooked pioneer of feminist cinema, the Swedish actor turned director Mai Zetterling ruffled the feathers of the patriarchal establishment with a string of bracingly modern, sexually frank, and politically incendiary films focused on female agency and the turbulent state of twentieth-century Europe. Her ability to render subjective psychological states with startling immediacy is on display in these three taboo-shattering works from the 1960s, featuring some of Swedish cinema’s most iconic stars. With their audacious narrative structures, their elaborate use of symbolism, and their willingness to delve into the most fraught realms of human experience, these are models of adventurous, passionately engaged filmmaking.

The title of Mai Zetterling’s boldly iconoclastic debut feature—adapted from a cycle of seven novels by the provocative feminist writer Agnes von Krusenstjerna—drips with irony. In 1915, three pregnant women from varying social backgrounds (Harriet Andersson, Gunnel Lindblom, and Gio Petré) enter a maternity ward. Cue a swirl of perspective-shifting flashbacks that, with searing psychological insight, illuminate the divergent yet interconnected experiences that brought them there—and that came to a head during one lavish, debauched Midsommar celebration. Wildly subversive in its treatment of sexuality, gender, class, religion, marriage, and motherhood, Loving Couples is as electrifying a first feature as any in cinema history, announcing the arrival of an uncompromising artist in pursuit of raw emotional truth.

Extras:
- New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- New interview with author Alicia Malone
- Interview with director Mai Zetterling from 1984
- New English subtitle translation




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