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IMDb > Sommaren med Monika (1953)

Sommaren med Monika (1953) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
7.5/10   2,127 votes
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Down 3% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Ingmar Bergman
Writers:
Per Anders Fogelström (novel)
Per Anders Fogelström (screenplay)
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Contact:
View company contact information for Monika, the Story of a Bad Girl on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
9 February 1953 (Sweden) more
Genre:
Drama | Romance more
Tagline:
A Picture for Wide Screens and Broad Minds more
Plot:
Harry Lund is a nineteen years old young man who meets Monika, a romantic, reckless and rebel seventeen... more | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
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User Comments:
You can't get more naturalistic with a love story than with Summer with Monika (and still infuse the trademark imagery of a Bergman film); sleeper-classic more

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)
Harriet Andersson ... Monika
Lars Ekborg ... Harry
Dagmar Ebbesen ... Harry's aunt
Åke Fridell ... Monika's father
Naemi Briese ... Monika's mother
Åke Grönberg ... Harry's friend at work
Sigge Fürst ... Porcelain warehouse worker
John Harryson ... Lelle
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Gert Fylking ... The Boy - statist
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Monika, the Story of a Bad Girl (USA)
Summer with Monika
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Runtime:
96 min | USA:62 min (re-edited version)
Country:
Sweden
Language:
Swedish
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono
Certification:
Norway:16 | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) (cut) | UK:PG (video rating) (1994)

Fun Stuff

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. more
Movie Connections:
Featured in Horrible Honeys (1988) (V) more
Soundtrack:
HELAN GAAR more

FAQ

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18 out of 22 people found the following comment useful:-
You can't get more naturalistic with a love story than with Summer with Monika (and still infuse the trademark imagery of a Bergman film); sleeper-classic, 10 January 2005
10/10
Author: JackGattanella from United States

Summer with Monika is a very fine, if not completely masterful, showcase of what would be to come with Ingmar Bergman's more notable and personal dramas. That is, in the technical side of things- here he uses a lot of shots that are simply there for the location, the imagery of where the characters are at. It's much more of a documentary than a usual tale of young love. But it's a good story at the core, and in it Bergman also establishes one of the actresses that would become crucial to his career. Harriet Andersson is remarkable as the happy, though high strung and (as one in my generation might call) 'needy' Monika, who works at a vegetable stand. She meets Harry (Ekberg) in a bar one day, and the two hit it off after later seeing a movie. Monika's home life is the pits, as is Harry's work environment. So, they act on an impulse to get away for the summer to an island. Out of that comes what is very natural in a relationship- happiness, love, despair, hunger, and the oncoming (unplanned) child. The third act goes as how one might expect, but the way it's filmed and acted is still extraordinary.

Once Bergman gets his film on the water, he just shoots and shoots. Some of this may not seem to go anywhere, some of it may just seem like shots of animals and rocks. But I have a feeling Bergman was likely inspired by either painters or the neo-realists with their documentary feel. If nothing else, everything feels very much alive and real with how the characters talk and act to each other, and that doesn't lose its ground after fifty years. Some shots here and there (one when Monika is out one night, when Harry is not at home, is intriguing on how it just stays on her, and how it's lit) are some of the more memorable ones of the 1950's for the director. I also liked how the characters were believably stuck in the middle of a very plausible dilemma- do they keep on going on with a great, bit love affair alone and off from civilization, or do they face up to what they have to do with living? It's a tragic, somewhat obvious conclusion, but the way it's told is how it scores some points.

Basically, Summer with Monika is a fresh, dark love story that may appeal to those looking for a good alternative to a film of today loaded with cynicism or delight in the shrill conventions with the characters. One may have seen characters like Monika and Harry in other films, yet they are fitting for the style of Bergman's precise bittersweet whimsy and depth.

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'When you act like a b****, you get smacked like a b****' Louis_B
What are the words written above the mirror? nanimo
NTSC DVD anytime soon??? thx4703
The movie Harry and Monika watches Arne-12
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