Mai Zetterling
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.
Personal Details
Also Known As
Movies (44)
Prejudice and Pride: Swedish Film Queer
as Self (archive footage)
2022
Regissören: En film om Mai Zetterling
as Self (archival footage)
2015
Meeting with Mai
1996
Minns ni?
as (archive footage)
1993
Morfars resa
as Elin Fromm
1993
Sellers' Best
as Self
1992
Sunday Pursuit
Director (Directing)
1990
Hidden Agenda
as Moa
1990
The Witches
as Helga Eveshim
1990
The Making of 'Hidden Agenda'
as Self
1990
Maybe I Really Am a Sorceress
as Self
1989
Calling the Shots
as Self
1988
Concrete Grandma
Director (Directing)
1986
Amorosa
Director (Directing)
1986
Scrubbers
Writer (Writing)
1982
Love
Writer (Writing)
1982
Of Seals and Men
Director (Directing)
1981
Stulet nyår
as Gerda
1978
Mai Zetterling's Stockholm
1978
My Heart Is Red
as Nietzsche
1977
The Moon Is a Green Cheese
Director (Directing)
1977
We Have Many Names
as Lena
1976
Visions of Eight
as Narrator
1973
Vincent the Dutchman
Director (Directing)
1972
The Girls
Director (Directing)
1968
Doctor Glas
Director (Directing)
1968
Night Games
Writer (Writing)
1966
Lianbron
1965
Loving Couples
Director (Directing)
1964
The Man Who Finally Died
as Lisa von Deutsch
1963
The War Game
Screenplay (Writing)
1963
The Bay of St. Michel
1963
The Main Attraction
as Gina
1962
Only Two Can Play
as Liz
1962
Lords of Little Egypt: Mai Zetterling Among the Gypsies
1961
Offbeat
as Ruth Lombard
1961
Faces in the Dark
as Christiane Hammond
1960
Piccadilly Third Stop
as Christine Preedy
1960
Jet Storm
as Carol Tilley
1959
The Traitor
as Frau Caypor
1959
Playing on the Rainbow
1958
The Master Builder
as Hilda Wangel
1958
The Truth About Women
as Julie Eaton
1957
Abandon Ship
as Nurse Julie White
1957
