Summer with Monika (1953)

A pair of teenagers meet one summer day, start a reckless affair and abandon their families to be with one another.

Director:

Ingmar Bergman

Writer:

Per Anders Fogelström (screenplay)

Stars:

Harriet Andersson, Lars Ekborg, Dagmar Ebbesen

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Harriet Andersson	...	Monika Eriksson
Lars Ekborg	...	Harry Lund
Dagmar Ebbesen	...	Fru Lindström, Harry's faster
Åke Fridell	...	Ludwig Eriksson, Monikas far
Naemi Briese	...	Monikas mor
Åke Grönberg	...	Verkmästaren, Harrys arbetskamrat
Sigge Fürst	...	Johan, lagerbasen på Forsbergs
John Harryson	...	Lelle, Harrys rival
Georg Skarstedt	...	Harrys far
Gösta Ericsson	...	Forsberg, direktör för glas
Gösta Gustafson	...	Forsbergs kamrer
Gösta Prüzelius	...	Försäljare hos Forsbergs
Göthe Grefbo	...	Lagerarbetare hos Forsbergs
Arthur Fischer	...	Chef för grönsakslagret
Torsten Lilliecrona	...	Chaufför på grönsakslagret

Storyline

Harry Lund is a nineteen-year-old man who meets Monika, a romantic, reckless and rebellious seventeen-year-old, and they fall in love. They leave their families and jobs in their small town, Harry gets his father's boat and they spend the summer together in an isolated island. Monika gets pregnant, and Harry decides to marry her. He grows up, gets a job and returns to his studies, trying to improve their lives and raise their daughter June, while Monika just wants to have fun.

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Plot Keywords:

summer | island | 1950s | teenage boy | teenage girl | 

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Taglines:

Ingmar Bergman's Daring, Different and Controversial Prize Film of a Restless Generation!

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film's then ground-breaking nudity led to its American distributor snapping up the film sight unseen and marketing it along the lines of a Russ Meyer picture. It remains the most widely seen Ingmar Bergman film in the US.

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Quotes

Harry Lund: You see - I've always been so lonely. My mother got sick when I was five. She was sick until she died. I was eight by then. Dad went a bit funny after that. He got all quiet. He and I would sit at home all evening, neither saying a word. We'd just sit there.
Monika Eriksson: I've never been alone. There's so many of us. The brats fight and wreck everything. Dad's always drunk and kicking up a fuss.

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Alternate Versions

First US release, marketed for the drive in theater circuit, ran only 62 minutes, was dubbed, and featured a different score by jazz musician Les Baxter.

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Connections

Referenced in Sommaren med Göran (2009)

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Soundtracks

WIENER BLUT
Music by Johann Strauss

User Reviews

The Time with Monika

Nouvelle vague from Skandinavia. It is one of those films in Bergman's oeuvre which hasn't completely lost the hope for the good and love yet and from that period, Sommaren med Monika is probably his most impressive work. The film is an ode to the vitality and joie de vivre of the youth, about it's rebellion and breaking out, exploring and checking and therefore, compared to Bergman's sixties, a pretty hopeful take on life. For the first half at least, until the couple is confronted with reality after a few days of liberation and from now on, they have to suffer the loss of their courage, spirit of adventure, the faith in each other and consequently the loss of their young love. The wonderful time with Monika does not remain - the only thing everyone can bank on.

It's remarkable, now from a perspective of more than 50 years ahead, how this film is (also) a homage to Harriet Andersson. At that time, there hardly was a similarly fresh, natural and at the same time sublime appearance in Europe's auteur cinema. With every shot, Bergman and cinematographer Gunnar Fischer capture her beauty and lightness perfectly. In one of the earliest nude scenes of European cinema they underline her innocent naturalness and love for nature, a naturalism in acting which is Andersson's strength when you think of the death scene in Cries and Whispers or the madness of Karin in Through a Glass Darkly. Her face, her entire guise stands, next to Liv Ullmann's, Bibi Andersson's or Ingrid Thulin's, for more than half a decade of superb Swedish cinema history.

Details

Country:

Sweden

Language:

Swedish

Release Date:

9 February 1953 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

Monika

Filming Locations:

Ornö, Stockholms län, Sweden

Box Office

Budget:

SEK484,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$14,316

Company Credits

Production Co:

Svensk Filmindustri (SF)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min 62 min (re-edited)

Sound Mix:

Mono (AGA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1