Slideshow
WE HAVE MANY NAMES
Wednesday, May 11
6:15
Sweden, 1976
Directed by Mai Zetterling
Starring Zetterling, Ewa Fröling, Gunnar Furumo, Ernst Günther
New DCP restoration courtesy Swedish Film Institute. Approx. 51 min.
Zetterling directs and stars in this deeply personal study of a self-sacrificing woman reeling from her husband’s abandonment, told through flashbacks and fantasies. Zetterling, whose own marriage to David Hughes was falling apart, drew on her experience– “I used all the pain and misery of the break-up of my marriage. It was a bitter medicine.” Originally conceived under the working title “The Great Unwanted” for the BBC, as part of UNESCO’s international women’s year, Zetterling later took the film to Swedish Television, who wanted her to star.
Reviews
“Through several stylistic choices, Zetterling moves beyond clichés and into the woman’s mind, addressing issues of life purpose, the immaturity of attachment, and the infantilization of women in marriage.”
– Mariah Larsson, A Cinema of Obsession: The Life and Work of Mai Zetterling