Summer With Monika

Sweden     Harriet Anderssen   d/ Ingmar Bergman

Early (1953) film by the Scandinavian master was his first to make an international impression, largely because of the scenes of discrete nudity which was very unusual at the time.

A young couple quit their jobs, steal dad's boat and live out a romantic idyll on an island for a summer. She gets pregnant and life pulls them back into conventional society...against her wishes.

The Swedish working class were depicted in the early scenes as cruel, clumsy, violent brutes...especially toward her. Both leads were quite good...naturalistic and likable. Obvious harbingers here of his later more serious work. Memorable.

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