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Mai Zetterling

1925-05-24

The 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.

Mai Zetterling in

Movies

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The Witches

6.9 average rating
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Hidden Agenda

6.928 average rating
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Torment

7.118 average rating
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The Man Who Finally Died

6.2 average rating
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Knock on Wood

6.6 average rating
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Visions of Eight

7 average rating
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Abandon Ship

7.4 average rating
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Jet Storm

6.5 average rating
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Prejudice and Pride: Swedish Film Queer

7 average rating
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Music in Darkness

6.1 average rating
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The Truth About Women

5.8 average rating
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Only Two Can Play

5.8 average rating
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Faces in the Dark

6.2 average rating
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Desperate Moment

0 average rating
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Portrait from Life

5.9 average rating
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The Ringer

5.8 average rating
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The Bad Lord Byron

5.5 average rating
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Frieda

5.3 average rating
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Piccadilly Third Stop

6.5 average rating
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Iris and the Lieutenant

7.4 average rating