The Cinematheque

A sensuous, admirably unsentimental tale of young love, this highpoint of early Bergman was revered by the talents of the French New Wave. Godard called it ​“the most original film of the most original of directors”; Truffaut paid it tribute in The 400 Blows. Harriet Andersson, fiery in her first of many Bergman roles, is Monika, a shop girl whose whirlwind summer romance with Harry (Lars Ekborg) gives way to domestic routine and drudgery. The atmospheric visuals by Gunnar Fischer, Bergman’s cameraman of choice in the 1950s, effectively contrast the airy, idyllic, seaside locales of the couple’s summer passion with the darker, drabber realities of their working-class life in the city. The film’s eroticism and nudity made it a succès de scandale for Bergman and Swedish cinema. It was originally released in America (recut by its exploitation-film distributor) as Monica, the Story of a Bad Girl.