I Am Curious (Yellow) (1967)

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 & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Lena Nyman	...	Lena Nyman
Vilgot Sjöman	...	Vilgot Sjöman
Börje Ahlstedt	...	Börje
Peter Lindgren	...	Rune Nyman
Chris Wahlström	...	Rune's Woman
Marie Göranzon	...	Marie
Magnus Nilsson	...	Magnus
Ulla Lyttkens	...	Ulla
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Andreas Bellis	...	Himself - Assistant Camera
Evgeniy Evtushenko	...	Himself (as Jevtusjenko)
Marianne Johnson	...	Herself - Script Girl
Martin Luther King	...	Himself (as Martin Luther King Jr.)
Raymond Lundberg	...	Himself - Recording Supervisor
Lena Malmsjö	...	Herself - Production Coordinator
Christer Oestberg	...	Himself - Sound Assistant (as Christer Ostberg)

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:

politics | equality | sex | hunger strike | swedish government | 

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Taglines:

Banned in Nearly Every Country

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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 USA:

$20,238,100

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$27,700,000

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

This film is part of the Criterion Collection, spine #180.

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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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Alternate Versions

A home video version has around twenty minutes of politics edited compared to what was seen in the original 35mm.

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Connections

Featured in Obscene (2007)

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Soundtracks

We Shall Overcome
(uncredited)
Musical and Lyrical adaptation by Zilphia Horton, Frank Hamilton, Guy Carawan and Pete Seeger
Performed by Lena Nyman

User Reviews

An important film because of the precedent it established

This movie caused a great sensation in 1969 because it was considered pornographic. The movie was not allowed to be shown in America. Finally, after a highly publicized court battle, the courts allowed the movie to appear and everybody went to see the movie. The movie was banned in many countries, not only in America, because is showed a man and a woman having sexual intercourse, the first time ever in a movie. However, in the actual scene, they climb a tree in a public park and have intercourse fully clothed in the branches of the tree. It takes the reader's imagination to understand what they are really doing. The content is so mild by today's standards that the movie is largely forgotten. However, it was because of the court precedent set by "I Am Curious (Yellow)" that we are allowed to see almost everything today. Sam Sloan