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Skenet som bedrog: Mai Zetterling och det svenska sextiotalet

Larsson, Mariah LU (2006)
Abstract
Mai Zetterling (1925-1994) was a popular actress in the 1940s. In the 1960s, she directed four feature films. The films ? Loving Couples (1964), Night Games (1966), The Girls (1968) and Dr. Glas (1969) ? were met with increasing hostility by Swedish critics, however, and after the 1960s, Mai Zetterling only directed two more feature films in her life, the British Scrubbers (1982) and the Swedish Amorosa (1986). In the present dissertation, the director Zetterling functions as a starting point for a critical study of the Swedish art cinema institution and its historiography. Informed by a gender perspective, the dissertation deals with the films Zetterling directed during the 1960s and their reception. It also deals with the film cultural... (More)
Mai Zetterling (1925-1994) was a popular actress in the 1940s. In the 1960s, she directed four feature films. The films ? Loving Couples (1964), Night Games (1966), The Girls (1968) and Dr. Glas (1969) ? were met with increasing hostility by Swedish critics, however, and after the 1960s, Mai Zetterling only directed two more feature films in her life, the British Scrubbers (1982) and the Swedish Amorosa (1986). In the present dissertation, the director Zetterling functions as a starting point for a critical study of the Swedish art cinema institution and its historiography. Informed by a gender perspective, the dissertation deals with the films Zetterling directed during the 1960s and their reception. It also deals with the film cultural climate in Sweden during the period, and how the image of and the narratives about Zetterling have changed over time.



Zetterling's star persona as an actress and eventually her biographical legend is described and analyzed in chapter one. In 1963, a reform changed Swedish film policy and the Swedish Film Institute was founded. This influenced the national film culture, which is discussed in the second chapter. In chapters three and four, narratology and gender theory are utilised in analyses of the four films Zetterling directed in the 1960s, whereas the fifth chapter deals with the reception of them and Zetterling's position in Swedish film historiography.



A major point of the dissertation is that the encounter between Zetterling and the Swedish art cinema institution in the 1960s was problematic. On a very tangible level, she was a woman who tried to make her way into a male-dominated profession. Furthermore, as a popular actress she transgressed the boundary between mass culture and modernism when she made a claim to be accepted as an art film auteur. And in addition to this, as she had left Sweden for England in late 1947 and lived abroad for the rest of her life, she was also an expatriate who turned a critical gaze on the Swedish welfare state, the familiar who became the Other. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
Popular Abstract in Swedish

Mai Zetterling (1925-1994) var under fyrtiotalet skådespelare, både på Dramatens scen och i populära svenska filmer. Under sextiotalet regisserade hon fyra långfilmer. Dessa filmer ? Älskande par (1964), Nattlek (1966), Flickorna (1968) och Dr. Glas (1969) ? bemöttes emellertid allt mer negativt av de svenska filmkritikerna. Under återstoden av sitt liv regisserade Zetterling endast två långfilmer till, den brittiska Scrubbers (1982) och Amorosa (1986). I avhandlingen Skenet som bedrog fungerar regissören Zetterling som en utgångspunkt för en kritisk granskning av den svenska konstfilmsinstitutionen och dess historiografi. Avhandlingen behandlar, utifrån ett genusperspektiv, de filmer Zetterling... (More)
Popular Abstract in Swedish

Mai Zetterling (1925-1994) var under fyrtiotalet skådespelare, både på Dramatens scen och i populära svenska filmer. Under sextiotalet regisserade hon fyra långfilmer. Dessa filmer ? Älskande par (1964), Nattlek (1966), Flickorna (1968) och Dr. Glas (1969) ? bemöttes emellertid allt mer negativt av de svenska filmkritikerna. Under återstoden av sitt liv regisserade Zetterling endast två långfilmer till, den brittiska Scrubbers (1982) och Amorosa (1986). I avhandlingen Skenet som bedrog fungerar regissören Zetterling som en utgångspunkt för en kritisk granskning av den svenska konstfilmsinstitutionen och dess historiografi. Avhandlingen behandlar, utifrån ett genusperspektiv, de filmer Zetterling regisserade under sextiotalet och det mottagande dessa fick. Den handlar också om det filmkulturella klimatet i Sverige under perioden och om hur bilden av och berättelserna om Zetterling har förändrats över tid.



Mai Zetterlings stjärnpersona som skådespelare och det som så småningom blev hennes biografiska legend beskrivs och analyseras i kapitel ett. Den svenska filmreformen 1963 ledde till att Svenska filminstitutet bildades. Detta påverkade den nationella filmkulturen, vilket diskuteras i avhandlingens andra kapitel. I kapitel tre och fyra används narratologi och genusteori för att analysera de fyra filmer Zetterling regisserade på sextiotalet. Det femte kapitlet behandlar mottagandet av dem och Zetterlings position i den svenska filmhistoriografin.



Avhandlingens bärande tes är att mötet mellan Zetterling och den svenska konstfilmsinstitutionen på sextiotalet blev problematiskt. På ett mycket påtagligt plan var hon en kvinna som som försökte skapa sig ett utrymme inom en i hög grad manligt dominerad yrkeskategori. Hon var också en populär skådespelare som överskred gränsen mellan masskultur och modernism när hon gjorde anspråk på att accepteras som en konstfilmsauteur. Dessutom var hon, eftersom hon hade lämnat Sverige 1947 och därefter levde utomlands, också en utlandssvensk som vände en kritisk blick mot den svenska välfärdsstaten, den välbekanta som blev främmande. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
supervisor
opponent
  • Prof. Soila, Tytti, Dept. of Cinema Studies, Stockholm University
organization
publishing date
type
Thesis
publication status
published
subject
keywords
historiography, nationality, gender, feminism, modernism, 1960s, art cinema, Swedish national cinema, Mai Zetterling, women directors, Cinema theory and history, Filmvetenskap
pages
283 pages
publisher
Sekel Bokförlag
defense location
Humanisthusets Hörsal, Språk- och litteraturcentrum Helgonabacken 12, Lund
defense date
2006-11-18 10:15:00
ISBN
978-91-975223-4-2
language
Swedish
LU publication?
yes
id
349cba66-2799-439f-bc08-47fb612a5384 (old id 25973)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 10:20:08
date last changed
2018-11-21 20:58:09
@phdthesis{349cba66-2799-439f-bc08-47fb612a5384,
  abstract     = {{Mai Zetterling (1925-1994) was a popular actress in the 1940s. In the 1960s, she directed four feature films. The films ? Loving Couples (1964), Night Games (1966), The Girls (1968) and Dr. Glas (1969) ? were met with increasing hostility by Swedish critics, however, and after the 1960s, Mai Zetterling only directed two more feature films in her life, the British Scrubbers (1982) and the Swedish Amorosa (1986). In the present dissertation, the director Zetterling functions as a starting point for a critical study of the Swedish art cinema institution and its historiography. Informed by a gender perspective, the dissertation deals with the films Zetterling directed during the 1960s and their reception. It also deals with the film cultural climate in Sweden during the period, and how the image of and the narratives about Zetterling have changed over time.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
Zetterling's star persona as an actress and eventually her biographical legend is described and analyzed in chapter one. In 1963, a reform changed Swedish film policy and the Swedish Film Institute was founded. This influenced the national film culture, which is discussed in the second chapter. In chapters three and four, narratology and gender theory are utilised in analyses of the four films Zetterling directed in the 1960s, whereas the fifth chapter deals with the reception of them and Zetterling's position in Swedish film historiography.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
A major point of the dissertation is that the encounter between Zetterling and the Swedish art cinema institution in the 1960s was problematic. On a very tangible level, she was a woman who tried to make her way into a male-dominated profession. Furthermore, as a popular actress she transgressed the boundary between mass culture and modernism when she made a claim to be accepted as an art film auteur. And in addition to this, as she had left Sweden for England in late 1947 and lived abroad for the rest of her life, she was also an expatriate who turned a critical gaze on the Swedish welfare state, the familiar who became the Other.}},
  author       = {{Larsson, Mariah}},
  isbn         = {{978-91-975223-4-2}},
  keywords     = {{historiography; nationality; gender; feminism; modernism; 1960s; art cinema; Swedish national cinema; Mai Zetterling; women directors; Cinema theory and history; Filmvetenskap}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  publisher    = {{Sekel Bokförlag}},
  school       = {{Lund University}},
  title        = {{Skenet som bedrog: Mai Zetterling och det svenska sextiotalet}},
  year         = {{2006}},
}