Mai Zetterling
Mai Elisabeth Zetterling ( May 24, 1925 – March 17, 1994) was a Swedish actress and film director.
She began directing in the early 1960s, starting with political documentaries and a short film called The War Game (1962), which was nominated for a BAFTA award, and won a Silver Lion at Venice. Her first feature film Älskande par (1964, "Loving Couples"), based on the novels of Agnes von Krusenstjerna, was banned at the Cannes Film Festival for its sexual explicitness and nudity. Kenneth Tynan of The Observer later called it "one of the most ambitious debuts since Citizen Kane." It was not the only film she made that would stir up controversy for its frank sexuality (early pioneer on voyeurism).
When critics reviewing her debut feature said that "Mai Zetterling directs like a man," she began to explore feminist themes more explicitly in her work. The Girls, which had an all-star Swedish cast including Bibi Andersson and Harriet Andersson, discussed women's liberation (or lack thereof) in a society controlled by men, as the protagonists compare their lives to characters in the play Lysistrata, and find that things have not progressed very much for women since ancient times.
Acted in
Prejudice and Pride: Swedish Film Queer
2022
as Self (archive footage)
Regissören: en film om Mai Zetterling
2015
as Self (archival footage)
Meeting with Mai
1996
Minns ni?
1993
as (archive footage)
Morfars resa
1993
as Elin Fromm
Sellers' Best
1992
as Self
Hidden Agenda
1990
as Moa
The Witches
1990
as Helga Eveshim
The Making of 'Hidden Agenda'
1990
as Self
Maybe I Really Am a Sorceress
1989
as Self
Calling the Shots
1988
as Self
Stulet nyår
1978
as Gerda
Svenska noveller
1978
as Gerda
Mai Zetterling's Stockholm
1978
My Heart Is Red
1977
as Nietzsche
We Have Many Names
1976
as Lena
Visions of Eight
1973
as Narrator
Lianbron
1965
The Man Who Finally Died
1963
as Lisa von Deutsch
The Bay of St. Michel
1963
The Main Attraction
1962
as Gina
Only Two Can Play
1962
as Liz
Lords of Little Egypt: Mai Zetterling Among the Gypsies
1961
Offbeat
1961
as Ruth Lombard
Faces in the Dark
1960
as Christiane Hammond
Piccadilly Third Stop
1960
as Christine Preedy
The Third Man
1959
Jet Storm
1959
as Carol Tilley
Interpol Calling
1959
as Carol
The Traitor
1959
as Frau Caypor
Playing on the Rainbow
1958
The Master Builder
1958
as Hilda Wangel
The Truth About Women
1957
as Julie Eaton
Abandon Ship
1957
as Nurse Julie White
Ett dockhem
1956
as Gurli Pall
A Prize of Gold
1955
as Maria
Dance Little Lady
1954
as Nina Gordon
Knock on Wood
1954
as Ilse Nordstrom
Desperate Moment
1953
as Anna DeBurg
The Ringer
1952
as Lisa
Tall Headlines
1952
as Doris Rickardson
Hell Is Sold Out
1951
as Valerie Martin
Blackmailed
1951
as Mrs. Carol Edwards
Naughty Arlette
1949
as Arlette Tessereau
The Lost People
1949
as Lily
The Bad Lord Byron
1949
as Teresa Guiccioli
Portrait from Life
1948
as Lidia
Studio One
1948
as Gabrielle
Quartet
1948
as Jeanne
Nu börjar livet
1948
as Vera Ullman
Music in Darkness
1948
as Ingrid Olofsson
Frieda
1947
as Frieda
Sunshine Follows Rain
1946
as Marit Germundsdotter
Iris and the Lieutenant
1946
as Iris Mattson
Prince Gustaf
1944
as Anna Maria Wastenius
Torment
1944
as Bertha Olsson
Jag dräpte
1943
as Miss Peters
Lasse-Maja
1941
as Fanny