Criterion Challenge 202423. Directed by Mai ZetterlingLoving Couples, directed by Mai Zetterling, 1964
Mai Zetterling’s directorial debut tells the stories of three different women connected somewhat through a singular house either by relation or employment. These women each end up pregnant around the same time and we follow their lives from childhood leading up to their pregnancies. It’s a packed film, thematically, touching on gender roles, the nature of war, the role of religion in maintaining hierarchal structures, class, romantic love, familial love, and more.
The constant back and forth between the past and present day is handled with stark precision, an incredible feat for Zetterling’s first feature film especially considering the focus on the lives of three separate women. The clever use of when to use a fade for scenes across time periods versus a standard cut keeps audience focus on the thread being explored. This structure allows the lives of these women to be explored separately at first and then concurrently, leading up to their final check ups and the results of their pregnancies. It’s a great piece of filmmaking and I look forward to watching more of Zetterling’s films.
Criterion Challenge 202423. Directed by Mai ZetterlingLoving Couples, directed by Mai Zetterling, 1964
Mai Zetterling’s directorial debut tells the stories of three different women connected somewhat through a singular house either by relation or employment. These women each end up pregnant around the same time and we follow their lives from childhood leading up to their pregnancies. It’s a packed film, thematically, touching on gender roles, the nature of war, the role of religion in maintaining hierarchal structures, class, romantic love, familial love, and more.
The constant back and forth between the past and present day is handled with stark precision, an incredible feat for Zetterling’s first feature film especially considering the focus on the lives of three separate women. The clever use of when to use a fade for scenes across time periods versus a standard cut keeps audience focus on the thread being explored. This structure allows the lives of these women to be explored separately at first and then concurrently, leading up to their final check ups and the results of their pregnancies. It’s a great piece of filmmaking and I look forward to watching more of Zetterling’s films.
