Mai Zetterling
- Acting
- May 24, 1925 · Västerås, Västmanlands län, Sweden
- March 17, 1994
Biography
Mai Elisabeth Zetterling ( May 24, 1925 – March 17, 1994) was a Swedish actress and film director. She began directing in the early 1960s, starting with political documentaries and a short film called The War Game (1962), which was nominated for a BAFTA award, and won a Silver Lion at Venice. Her first feature film Älskande par (1964, "Loving Couples"), based on the novels of Agnes von Krusenstjerna, was banned at the Cannes Film Festival for its sexual explicitness and nudity. Kenneth Tynan of The Observer later called it "one of the most ambitious debuts since Citizen Kane." It was not the only film she made that would stir up controversy for its frank sexuality (early pioneer on voyeurism). When critics reviewing her debut feature said that "Mai Zetterling directs like a man," she began to explore feminist themes more explicitly in her work. The Girls, which had an all-star Swedish cast including Bibi Andersson and Harriet Andersson, discussed women's liberation (or lack thereof) in a society controlled by men, as the protagonists compare their lives to characters in the play Lysistrata, and find that things have not progressed very much for women since ancient times.
Known for
Filmography
- Prejudice and Pride: Swedish Film Queer · Self
- Regissören: En film om Mai Zetterling · Self
- Meeting with Mai
- Minns ni? · (archive footage)
- Morfars resa · Elin Fromm
- Love at First Sight · Director
- Sellers' Best · Self
- Sunday Pursuit · Director
- Hidden Agenda · Moa
- The Witches · Helga Eveshim
- The Making of 'Hidden Agenda' · Self
- Chillers · Director, Writer
- Maybe I Really Am a Sorceress · Self
- Calling the Shots · Self
- Concrete Grandma · Director
- Amorosa · Director, Writer
- The Hitchhiker · Director
- Scrubbers · Director, Writer
- Love · Writer, Director
- Of Seals and Men · Director, Writer
- Stulet nyår · Gerda
- Svenska noveller · Gerda
- Mai Zetterling's Stockholm · Director
- My Heart Is Red · Nietzsche
- The Moon Is a Green Cheese · Director, Writer
- We Have Many Names · Lena, Director
- Visions of Eight · Narrator, Director
- Vincent the Dutchman · Director
- Film '72 · Self
- The Girls · Writer, Director
- Doctor Glas · Director, Screenplay
- One Pair of Eyes
- Night Games · Director, Writer
- Lianbron
- Loving Couples · Director, Writer
- The Man Who Finally Died · Lisa von Deutsch
- The War Game · Director, Screenplay
- The Bay of St. Michel · Helene Bretton
- The Main Attraction · Gina
- Only Two Can Play · Liz
- Lords of Little Egypt: Mai Zetterling Among the Gypsies · Director
- Offbeat · Ruth Lombard
- Faces in the Dark · Christiane Hammond
- Danger Man · Nadia
- Piccadilly Third Stop · Christine Preedy
- The Third Man
- Jet Storm · Carol Tilley
- Interpol Calling · Carol
- The Traitor · Frau Caypor
- Playing on the Rainbow
- The Master Builder · Hilda Wangel
- The Truth About Women · Julie Eaton
- Seven Waves Away · Nurse Julie White
- Armchair Theatre · Miss Julie, Louise Josse
- Ett dockhem · Gurli Pall
- A Prize of Gold · Maria
- Dance Little Lady · Nina Gordon
- Knock on Wood · Ilse Nordstrom
- Desperate Moment · Anna DeBurg
- The Ringer · Lisa
- Tall Headlines · Doris Rickardson
- Hell Is Sold Out · Valerie Martin
- Blackmailed · Mrs. Carol Edwards
- The Romantic Age · Arlette Tessereau
- The Lost People · Lily
- The Bad Lord Byron · Teresa Guiccioli
- Portrait from Life · Lidia
- Studio One · Gabrielle
- Quartet · Jeanne (segment "The Facts of Life")
- Life Starts Now · Vera Ullman
- Music in Darkness · Ingrid Olofsson
- Frieda · Frieda
- Sunshine Follows Rain · Marit Germundsdotter
- Iris and the Lieutenant · Iris Mattson
- Prince Gustaf · Anna Maria Wastenius
- Torment · Bertha Olsson
- Jag dräpte · Miss Peters
- Lasse-Maja · Fanny
- The Polite Invasion · Director