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.
63 acting credits · 21 directing credits
Acting · 63
Studio One
1948
Danger Man
1960
Film '72
1971
The Third Man
1959
Interpol Calling
1959
The Witches
1990
Armchair Theatre
1956
Svenska noveller
1978
One Pair of Eyes
1967
The Man Who Finally Died
1963
Hidden Agenda
1990
Torment
1944
Visions of Eight
1973
The Main Attraction
1962
The Ringer
1952
Seven Waves Away
1957
Only Two Can Play
1962
Quartet
1948
The Truth About Women
1957
Prejudice and Pride: Swedish Film Queer
2022
Jet Storm
1959
The Romantic Age
1949
Knock on Wood
1954
Portrait from Life
1948
The Bad Lord Byron
1949
Hell Is Sold Out
1951
Faces in the Dark
1960
Sunshine Follows Rain
1946
Blackmailed
1951
Dance Little Lady
1954
A Prize of Gold
1955
Morfars resa
1993
Frieda
1947
Calling the Shots
1988
Minns ni?
1993
Offbeat
1961
The Lost People
1949
Prince Gustaf
1944
Piccadilly Third Stop
1960
The Bay of St. Michel
1963
Music in Darkness
1948
Ett dockhem
1956
My Heart Is Red
1977
The Master Builder
1958
Maybe I Really Am a Sorceress
1989
The Traitor
1959
The Making of 'Hidden Agenda'
1990
Regissören: En film om Mai Zetterling
2015
Sellers' Best
1992
Desperate Moment
1953
Jag dräpte
1943
Playing on the Rainbow
1958
Tall Headlines
1952
We Have Many Names
1976
Iris and the Lieutenant
1946
Lianbron
1965
Lasse-Maja
1941
Life Starts Now
1948
Stulet nyår
1978
Lords of Little Egypt: Mai Zetterling Among the Gypsies
1961
Meeting with Mai
1996
Mai Zetterling's Stockholm
1978
The Polite Invasion
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Directing · 21
The Hitchhiker
1983
Chillers
1990
Love at First Sight
1992
Night Games
1966
Visions of Eight
1973
Scrubbers
1982
The Girls
1968
Loving Couples
1964
Amorosa
1986
Love
1982
The War Game
1963
Vincent the Dutchman
1972
Sunday Pursuit
1990
We Have Many Names
1976
Doctor Glas
1968
The Moon Is a Green Cheese
1977
Lords of Little Egypt: Mai Zetterling Among the Gypsies
1961
Of Seals and Men
1981
Mai Zetterling's Stockholm
1978
Concrete Grandma
1986
The Polite Invasion
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