Mai Zetterling
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 | Acting |
|---|---|
| Most Rating | 0.019 |
| Birthday | 1925-05-24 |
| Place of Birth | Västerås, Västmanlands län, Sweden |
| Also Known As | Maj Zetterling, Mai Elizabeth Zetterling, مای زترلینگ, |
1948
Nu börjar livet
1/1
A married priest woos a seamstress.
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Nu börjar livet
1990
The Witches
6.9/1270
A young boy named Luke and his grandmother go on vacation only to discover their hotel is hosting an international witch convention, where the Grand H...
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The Witches
1956
Ett dockhem
0/0
August Strindberg's feedback to Henrik Ibsen's "Doll's House"--a short story from the collection "Giftas" (Getting married), about female emancipation...
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Ett dockhem
1993
Minns ni?
0/0
A quick overview of Swedish film history, featuring a breathtaking cavalry of scenes from about 170 films.
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Minns ni?
1990
Hidden Agenda
6.9/94
In Ireland, American lawyer Ingrid Jessner and her activist partner, Paul Sullivan, struggle to uncover atrocities committed by the British government...
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Hidden Agenda
1946
Sunshine Follows Rain
5.5/8
The Farmer Germund is planning a wedding between his daughter Marit and Mats, the son of a neighboring farm. Everything seems to be going according to...
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Sunshine Follows Rain
1948
Music in Darkness
6.1/43
Because of an accident at a military drill the recruit Bengt loses his eyesight and becomes blind. He gets to live with relatives in the countryside a...
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Music in Darkness
1944
Torment
7.1/72
Jan-Erik Widgren meets the lonely Bertha Olsson, a woman struggling with alcoholism. Though Bertha is already linked to Caligula, Jan-Erik's heartless...
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Torment
1959
The Traitor
0/0
In wartime, an English spy must go into neutral territory to murder a fellow-Englishman who has been working for the enemy.
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The Traitor
1962
Only Two Can Play
5.893/27
John Lewis is bored of his job and his wife. Then Liz, wife of a local councillor, sets her sights on him. But this is risky stuff in a Welsh valleys...
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Only Two Can Play
1947
Frieda
5.3/13
An RAF pilot who was shot down during WWII returns home to his English village with his new bride. The trouble is that she is the German lady who help...
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Frieda
1954
Knock on Wood
6.6/30
Ventriloquist Jerry Morgan has failed with another love affair. The reason: when the relationship reaches the point when it is time to discuss marriag...
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Knock on Wood
1960
Faces in the Dark
6.2/5
A businessman loses his sight in an explosion on the day his wife planned to leave him for another man.
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Faces in the Dark
1948
Quartet
6/14
Somerset Maugham introduces four of his tales in this anthology film: "The Facts of Life," "The Alien Corn," "The Kite," and "The Colonel's Lady."
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Quartet
1957
Abandon Ship
7.4/24
After a massive luxury liner sinks into the ocean, the ship's officer must command a rickety lifeboat, built for only nine, that is stuffed with over...
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Abandon Ship
1958
The Master Builder
0/0
Halvard Solness is a middle-aged architect whose ruthlessness in his business makes him a hardened individual. Affected by his ambitions are his wife...
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The Master Builder
1963
The Man Who Finally Died
6.2/14
Joe Newman, a naturalised Briton, is telephoned by his German father, whom he believed long dead, at the same time as a funeral is taking place in Bav...
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The Man Who Finally Died
1961
Offbeat
6.1/10
When Scotland Yard finds themselves up against a brick wall in tracking down a vicious gang of thieves and bank robbers, they call in Layton, a loner...
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Offbeat
1955
A Prize of Gold
5.4/8
A U.S. sergeant, a British sergeant and a British pilot hijack gold for a German refugee's war orphans.
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A Prize of Gold
1953
Desperate Moment
0/1
Story of a Dutchman's flight across post-war Germany trying to locate the man who alone can clear him of a false murder charge. (BFI Website)
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Desperate Moment
1951
Blackmailed
3.5/2
A blackmailer is murdered, and those who witnessed the scene agree to keep quiet; the complication is that the scene is also witnessed by a young arti...
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Blackmailed
1992
Sellers' Best
0/0
One of the all-time greatest comedians, Peter Sellers’ mimicry, timing, instinct and ability to decimate an audience with laughter made him absolutely...
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Sellers' Best
2022
Prejudice and Pride: Swedish Film Queer
6.7/7
A journey through Swedish queer film history.
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Prejudice and Pride: Swedish Film Queer
1960
Piccadilly Third Stop
6.5/9
A playboy tries to recruit a gang, who include an American who needs cash to satisfy his wife's expensive tastes, and an old time expert cracksman, to...
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Piccadilly Third Stop
1943
Jag dräpte
3.5/1
"I Slew" - Hospital drama of a doctor who thinks that he killed a patient on the operating table.
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Jag dräpte
1949
Naughty Arlette
5.1/5
Arlette is a malicious schoolgirl who uses her feminine charms to attract, and then destroy, every man gullible enough to respond to her flirtations....
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Naughty Arlette
1973
Visions of Eight
7/16
Eight acclaimed filmmakers bring their unique and differing perspectives to the 1972 Summer Olympic Games held in Munich. The segments include Lelouch...
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Visions of Eight
1962
The Main Attraction
4/4
An affable drifter on the lam for a murder he didn't commit hides out in a circus.
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The Main Attraction
1949
The Lost People
5.7/3
Set in a German theatre after the Second World War, two British soldiers are holding a disparate and hostile band of refugees in this theatre, prior t...
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The Lost People
1951
Hell Is Sold Out
5.7/3
A supposedly dead writer suddenly turns up to confront the young woman who is using his penname.
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Hell Is Sold Out
1952
The Ringer
5.8/5
An underhand solicitor receives threatening notes, and the police are called in to protect him.
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The Ringer
1948
Portrait from Life
5.9/7
A British army officer becomes fascinated by the portrait of a young woman. He travels to Germany to find her, only to discover that she is suffering...
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Portrait from Life
1959
Jet Storm
6.5/10
Crisis in the air: A passenger aboard a commercial airplane flying from London to New York threatens to detonate a bomb over the Atlantic.
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Jet Storm
1954
Dance Little Lady
7/3
When a ballerina's career is ended after she's injured in a traffic accident, her husband decides to try and turn their young daughter into a ballet s...
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Dance Little Lady
1944
Prince Gustaf
0/0
In the middle of the 1800s Swedish prince Gustaf meets the actress Anna Maria Wastenius and falls in love with her, but it is an impossible love story...
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Prince Gustaf
1952
Tall Headlines
5.8/2
A family is torn apart when their eldest son is hanged for the murder of a young girl.
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Tall Headlines
1946
Iris and the Lieutenant
7.4/7
Robert, an upper-class officer, meets and falls in love with Iris, a house maid. His family will do anything to stop her from marrying him.
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Iris and the Lieutenant
1990
The Making of 'Hidden Agenda'
0/0
Documentary looking at the making-of and real-life stories behind the award-winning conspiracy thriller starring Oscar-winner Frances McDormand and Br...
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The Making of 'Hidden Agenda'
1989
Maybe I Really Am a Sorceress
7.5/1
An intimate portrait of director Mai Zetterling that includes interviews with Zetterling, David Hughes (Zetterling’s ex-husband and the cowriter of LO...
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Maybe I Really Am a Sorceress
1958
Playing on the Rainbow
0/0
The school counselor Vanja believe neither in love, marriage or a woman's subservient role to the man. One day she meets the student Björn. Their roma...
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Playing on the Rainbow
1965
Lianbron
0/0
A Swedish scientist couple comes to a small African village to fight malaria.
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Lianbron
1957
The Truth About Women
5.9/7
A man recalls his relationships with the women he loved as he tries to help another man try to understand them as well.
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The Truth About Women
1949
The Bad Lord Byron
5.5/4
Injured and on his deathbed in Greece, Lord Byron imagines a celestial trial with witnesses to determine the worth of his character.
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The Bad Lord Byron
1976
We Have Many Names
5/3
A sacrificial passive woman spends her life breeding happiness into her family. What happens when her world of security cracks, shatters completely an...
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We Have Many Names
1961
Lords of Little Egypt: Mai Zetterling Among the Gypsies
0/0
Every year in May several thousand 'Lords of Little Egypt' meet for festivities in the Camargue. Mai Zetterling stays with the gypsies and reports on...
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Lords of Little Egypt: Mai Zetterling Among the Gypsies
1963
The Bay of St. Michel
0/0
A trio of World War 2 vets band together to search for a lost Nazi fortune.
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The Bay of St. Michel
1993
Morfars resa
0/0
Film by Staffan Lamm.
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Morfars resa
1941
Lasse-Maja
0/0
About the Swedish trickster and thief Lars "Lasse-Maja" Molin. He often disguised himself and lived as a woman in 1800s. He takes place as a kitchen b...
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Lasse-Maja
1977
My Heart Is Red
4.3/3
A poll for an advertising agency during a working day resulting in a series of meetings with women and men from different social strata, each one of t...
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My Heart Is Red
1978
Stulet nyår
0/0
A story about Gerda, maid and unmarried. And a New Year's Eve in her life.
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Stulet nyår
2015
Regissören: en film om Mai Zetterling
6/1
A celebrated movie star, Mai Zetterling stepped behind the camera in the early 1960's as one of the few female directors in the world. Her works were...
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Regissören: en film om Mai Zetterling
1996
Meeting with Mai
0/0
Mai Zetterling is interviewed in the summer of 1984 in her house in southern France. Seventeen years have passed since the Girls were made in Sweden a...
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Meeting with Mai
1988
Calling the Shots
0/0
Documentary about women in the film industry. Numerous notable actresses and female directors share their thoughts.
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Calling the Shots
1978
Mai Zetterling's Stockholm
6/1
Mai Zetterling explores Swedish cultural canon in a Canadian TV-production called “Cities”. Zetterling herself play all the prominent roles.
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