Prejudice and Pride: Swedish Film Queer 2022

A journey through Swedish queer film history.

The Divine Garbo 1990

Profile of actress Greta Garbo, narrated by Glenn Close

Stiller, Garbo & jag 1988

One day when Ruben Stiller is playing in a bath, he gets an alien talking to Nadja, who asks him to find out the fate of Charly's dog. Ruben agrees because Charly's host was Mauritz Stiller, and Ruben is the grandson of Mauritz's brother.

The Street of Sin 1928

"Basher Bill," a retired prizefighter turned criminal, pretends to reform by joining a Salvation Army shelter in London run by a pious wraith named Elizabeth. Attracted to Elizabeth (although he is engaged to a street girl named Annie), Bill confesses to a bank robbery, has a spiritual revelation, and decides to go straight. His cast-off sweetheart reports him to the police; then, contrite, she warns Bill of the impending danger. Bill is captured immediately, but he escapes and sacrifices his life to save Elizabeth and the Salvation Army nursery when the rest of the gang use them as a human barricade against the police.

The Woman on Trial 1927

A story of a woman who committed a murder. In a French court room her life is retold by long flashbacks of her testimony and life.

Barbed Wire 1927

During WWI, a French farm girl and a German P.O.W. fall in love.

The Temptress 1926

A seductive woman forsakes her husband and lover to pursue a young engineer.

The Saga of Gösta Berling 1924

Gösta Berling is a young and attractive minister. Because of his alcoholism and his daring sermons, he is finally defrocked. He becomes a tutor of countess Marta's stepdaughter and they fall in love. But the countess has a plan of her own.

Gunnar Hede's Saga 1923

Gunnar Hede is raised by a strict mother, who wants him to become respectable to match his family’s wealth. He is more interested in his grandfather, who started as an itinerant violin player, but got rich by leading a herd of wild reindeer south to market. He falls for a violinist working with a married couple of traveling performers and renounces his fortune to go with them. He then tries to earn a fortune by driving reindeer to market, but it doesn’t work out and he goes insane. He is finally restored to sanity by the violinist when she returns with the performers.

Johan 1921

On a farm in up-country Sweden, an enigmatic stranger comes to a conservative peasant community and seduces a farmer's wife.

Erotikon 1920

Erotikon is a 1920 Swedish romantic comedy film directed by Mauritz Stiller, starring Tora Teje, Karin Molander, Anders de Wahl and Lars Hanson. It is based on the 1917 play A kék róka by Ferenc Herczeg. The story revolves around an entomology professor obsessed with the sexual life of bugs, and his easygoing wife who is courted by two suitors.

Fiskebyn 1920

The widower Jakob Vindås lives with his daughter and his mother in a small west coast fishing community.

Sir Arne's Treasure 1919

Three Scottish officers, including Sir Archi, murder Sir Arne and his household for a coffin filled with gold. The only survivor is Elsalill, who moves to relatives in Marstrand. There she meets a charming young officer- Sir Archi- and she soon understands that he was one of the murderers.

Song of the Scarlet Flower 1919

The son of a wealthy farmer loves a simple maid, for which he's booted out of the house by his father.

The Wings 1916

The story is that of a conniving countess coming between a gay sculptor, Claude Zoret, and his bisexual model and lover, Mikaël, ultimately leading to Zoret's death in a raging storm at the base of a statue of Mikaël as the mythological Icarus. The film is missing 19 minutes of run time.

Love and Journalism 1916

A woman journalist employed as a maid by a great explorer is overcome with remorse at revealing his private life to the public. He shares her feelings and marries her

Hans bröllopsnatt 1915

Madame de Thèbes 1915

The story is wacky – a gypsy is cursed by her father, so that she has to deny her illegitimate son in order for him to have a successful life. She gives him to a well-to-do lady who has lost her own child. Later, he has grown up to be a politician who wants to become the foreign minister. He doesn’t know that his real mother is the famous Madame de Thebes, the fortuneteller who all politicians make sure to visit! This information falls into the hands of a rival, who tries to use it to ruin his career. Meanwhile, the rival’s attractive daughter is attacked by a ruffian and needs to be rescued… There are a lot of striking images in this film. You can see the beauty of them even if the state of the print is far from perfect. The Norwegian actress Ragna Wettergreen gives a haunting performance as Madame de Thebes, with wisdom and regret – and quite a few melodramatic gestures. Understatement was not the norm in those days.

Dolken 1915

Mr Bernhard has financial difficulties. He has fallen into the hands of broker Mr Pouzer. In desperation, Bernhard's daughter Julia visit Pouzer to ask for mercy for her father. Yes, Pouzer replies, if I get you in return.

Brother Against Brother 1913

Two brothers compete for the love of a woman while the impending war threatens to separate them from both sides of the border. Based on the novel "La Débâcle" by Émile Zola.