I Am Curious (Yellow) (1967)
"Jag är nyfiken - en film i gult" (original title)

Lena, aged twenty, wants to know all she can about life and reality. She collects information on everyone and everything, storing her findings in an enormous archive. She experiments with ... See full summary »

Director:

Vilgot Sjöman

Stars:

Lena Nyman, Vilgot Sjöman, Börje Ahlstedt

1 win.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Lena Nyman	...	Lena
Vilgot Sjöman	...	Vilgot Sjöman
Börje Ahlstedt	...	Börje, Lena's boyfriend
Peter Lindgren	...	Lena's Father
Chris Wahlström	...	Rune's Woman
Marie Göranzon	...	Marie, Börje's mistress
Magnus Nilsson	...	Magnus, Lena's school friend
Ulla Lyttkens	...	Ulla, Lena's friend
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Anders Ek	...	Exercise leader
Martin Luther King	...	Himself
Yevgeni Yevtushenko	...	Himself

Storyline

Lena, aged twenty, wants to know all she can about life and reality. She collects information on everyone and everything, storing her findings in an enormous archive. She experiments with relationships, political activism, and meditation. Meanwhile, the actors, director and crew are shown in a humorous parallel plot about the making of the film and their reactions to the story and each other. Nudity, explicit sex, and controversial politics kept this film from being shown in the US while its seizure by Customs was appealed.

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Plot Keywords:

sex | nudity | meditation | politics | actor | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

X

Details

Country:

Sweden

Language:

Swedish

Release Date:

10 March 1969 (USA)

Also Known As:

I Am Curious (Yellow)

Box Office

Gross:

$20,238,100 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sandrews

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The interview with Martin Luther King was filmed in March 1966 when Dr. King was in Stockholm with Harry Belafonte to garner Swedish support for the American Civil Rights Movement.

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Quotes

Magnus, Lena's school friend: Are there any interesting social cases here? People in sleazy flats? People with unpaid dental bills? Drug cases will do, too. I work for "Expressen" the paper with a sting. My paper is planning a conservative victory in the '68 elections. We're doing a series on the ten most sordid social welfare cases.

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Crazy Credits

Opening credits as follows: (voiceover, sung) Sandrews makes good films (on screen) "Lena Nyman, theatre student, age 22" (on screen) "Vilgot Sjoeman, director, age 42" (on screen) "Jag aer nyfiken" [I Am Curious], three times (voiceover) Buy our film, the only film that comes in two versions, one yellow, one blue. Same but different, that is true! Unique to view, the one that's blue. Ugly and nice, we repeat it twice: this is the yellow version, yes, the yellow version! (on screen) "en film i gult" [a yellow film]

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Connections

Followed by I Am Curious (Blue) (1968)

User Reviews

Takes Awhile For It To Dawn On You, But It's Great

I didn't expect to like this film as much as I did. I got it simply because I saw it on the list of Top 25 Most Controversial Films of All Time. It didn't look particularly great. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was one of the most cleverly composed films of recent memory.

It's about a twenty-year-old woman wants to know everything. She stores every bit of information she collects in an enormous archive. She experiments with experience in sex, political activism, and human relationships. Meanwhile, film's crew is shown making the film and we view their reactions to the story and each other. Nudity, explicit sex, and controversial politics kept this film from being shown in the US while its seizure by Customs was appealed. The film is a narrative yet it's a documentary that shows us the behind-the- scenes world of the filmmakers during the narrative, the fourth wall being broken. This film is the most direct possible way of making a movie I have ever seen. The movie predominantly works as a time capsule of 1960s psychedelic goings-on, freedom-fighting and sexual liberation. I like to think of it as much more than that.

I didn't think I would want to waste my time with the blue version of this movie, but I actually really do. This film is a buried treasure. Give it a try.