Mai Zetterling
Acting • Born 1925-05-24 – Died 1994-03-17
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.
Filmography
59 credits
Life Starts Now
Movie • 1948
Vera Ullman
The Witches
Movie • 1990
Helga Eveshim
Ett dockhem
Movie • 1956
Gurli Pall
Minns ni?
Movie • 1993
(archive footage)
Hidden Agenda
Movie • 1990
Moa
Sunshine Follows Rain
Movie • 1946
Marit Germundsdotter
Music in Darkness
Movie • 1948
Ingrid Olofsson
Torment
Movie • 1944
Bertha Olsson
The Traitor
Movie • 1959
Frau Caypor
Only Two Can Play
Movie • 1962
Liz
Frieda
Movie • 1947
Frieda
Knock on Wood
Movie • 1954
Ilse Nordstrom
Faces in the Dark
Movie • 1960
Christiane Hammond
Quartet
Movie • 1948
Jeanne (segment "The Facts of Life")
Seven Waves Away
Movie • 1957
Nurse Julie White
The Master Builder
Movie • 1958
Hilda Wangel
The Man Who Finally Died
Movie • 1963
Lisa von Deutsch
Offbeat
Movie • 1961
Ruth Lombard
A Prize of Gold
Movie • 1955
Maria
Blackmailed
Movie • 1951
Mrs. Carol Edwards
Desperate Moment
Movie • 1953
Anna DeBurg
Sellers' Best
Movie • 1992
Self
Prejudice and Pride: Swedish Film Queer
Movie • 2022
Self (archive footage)
Piccadilly Third Stop
Movie • 1960
Christine Preedy
Jag dräpte
Movie • 1943
Miss Peters
The Romantic Age
Movie • 1949
Arlette Tessereau
Visions of Eight
Movie • 1973
Narrator
The Main Attraction
Movie • 1962
Gina
The Lost People
Movie • 1949
Lily
Hell Is Sold Out
Movie • 1951
Valerie Martin
The Ringer
Movie • 1952
Lisa
Portrait from Life
Movie • 1948
Lidia
Jet Storm
Movie • 1959
Carol Tilley
Dance Little Lady
Movie • 1954
Nina Gordon
Prince Gustaf
Movie • 1944
Anna Maria Wastenius
Tall Headlines
Movie • 1952
Doris Rickardson
Iris and the Lieutenant
Movie • 1946
Iris Mattson
The Making of 'Hidden Agenda'
Movie • 1990
Self
Maybe I Really Am a Sorceress
Movie • 1989
Self
Playing on the Rainbow
Movie • 1958
Lianbron
Movie • 1965
The Truth About Women
Movie • 1957
Julie Eaton
The Bad Lord Byron
Movie • 1949
Teresa Guiccioli
We Have Many Names
Movie • 1976
Lena
Lords of Little Egypt: Mai Zetterling Among the Gypsies
Movie • 1961
The Bay of St. Michel
Movie • 1963
Morfars resa
Movie • 1993
Elin Fromm
Lasse-Maja
Movie • 1941
Fanny
My Heart Is Red
Movie • 1977
Nietzsche
Stulet nyår
Movie • 1978
Gerda
Regissören: En film om Mai Zetterling
Movie • 2015
Self (archival footage)
Meeting with Mai
Movie • 1996
Calling the Shots
Movie • 1988
Self
Mai Zetterling's Stockholm
Movie • 1978
Studio One
TV • 1948
Gabrielle
Interpol Calling
TV • 1959
Carol
The Third Man
TV • 1959
Svenska noveller
TV • 1978
Gerda
Film '72
TV • 1971
Self