FLM's Best Swedish Films of All Time
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- DirectorVictor SjöströmStarsVictor SjöströmHilda BorgströmTore SvennbergOn New Year's Eve, the driver of a ghostly carriage forces a drunken man to reflect on his selfish, wasted life.
- DirectorBo WiderbergStarsThommy BerggrenKeve HjelmEmy StormAn aspiring young writer lives in a bleak working class block in the late 1930s.
- DirectorJan TroellStarsEddie AxbergGudrun BrostUlla AkselsonA working class teenager comes of age in 1910s rural Sweden, moving from job to job and meeting a variety of individuals who gradually shape his future.
- DirectorRoy AnderssonStarsAnn-Sofie KylinRolf SohlmanAnita LindblomTwo teenagers fall in love over the summer, in spite of cynical and disapproving adults who dismiss their relationship as being nothing but young love.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsBertil GuvePernilla AllwinKristina AdolphsonTwo young Swedish children in the 1900s experience the many comedies and tragedies of their lively and affectionate theatrical family, the Ekdahls.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsBibi AnderssonLiv UllmannMargaretha KrookA nurse is put in charge of a mute actress and finds that their personae are melding together.
- DirectorBo WiderbergStarsCarl-Gustaf LindstedtSven WollterThomas HellbergWhen a police inspector is murdered in hospital, the investigation led by detective Martin Beck uncovers reports of police misconduct and a possible revenge motive.
- DirectorHasse EkmanStarsEva HenningUlf PalmeBirgit TengrothAfter a young woman commits suicide, her neighbors try to piece together why she did it by tracking down her acquaintances.
- DirectorStefan JarlStarsKenneth 'Kenta' GustafssonGustav 'Stoffe' SvenssonEva BlondinAbout a couple of friends in Stockholms drug world.
- DirectorRoy AnderssonStarsLars NordhStefan LarssonBengt C.W. CarlssonWhere are we humans going? A film poem inspired by the Peruvian poet César Vallejo. We meet people in the city. People trying to communicate, searching compassion and get the connection of small and large things.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsVictor SjöströmBibi AnderssonIngrid ThulinAfter living a life marked by coldness, an aging professor is forced to confront the emptiness of his existence.
- DirectorRuben ÖstlundStarsVillmar BjörkmanLola EwerlundMaria LundqvistIn several unrelated stories, the consequences of putting one's foot down - or failing to do so - are explored.
- DirectorHans AlfredsonStarsStellan SkarsgårdMaria JohanssonHans AlfredsonA mentally challenged man escapes from his tyrannical master and finds happiness when a poor family takes him in.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsÅke GrönbergHarriet AnderssonHasse EkmanThe complicated relationships between a circus ringmaster, his estranged wife and his lover.
- DirectorAlf SjöbergStarsStig JärrelAlf KjellinMai ZetterlingAn idealistic adolescent suffering under the thumb of a sadistic schoolmaster falls in love with a loose girl who is bullied and tormented by another lover.
- DirectorLukas MoodyssonStarsOksana AkinshinaArtyom BogucharskiyPavel PonomaryovSixteen-year-old Lilja and her only friend, the young boy Volodja, live in Russia, fantasizing about a better life. One day, Lilja falls in love with Andrej, who is going to Sweden, and invites Lilja to come along and start a new life.
- DirectorJan TroellStarsMax von SydowLiv UllmannEddie AxbergSmåland, Sweden, mid-19th century. A farming family struggle with their rocky, unyielding land, and decide to embark on the arduous journey to new hope in America.
- DirectorJan TroellStarsMax von SydowLiv UllmannEddie AxbergA Swedish immigrant family struggle to establish a new life for themselves in the forest of Minnesota in the mid 19th Century.
- DirectorMai ZetterlingStarsHarriet AnderssonGunnel LindblomGio PetréThree expectant mothers think back over their sex lives.
- DirectorRoy AnderssonStarsElisabeth HelanderJörgen NohallJan WikbladhYou, the Living is a film about humankind, its greatness and its baseness, joy and sorrow, its self-confidence and anxiety, its desire to love and be loved.
- DirectorMai ZetterlingStarsBibi AnderssonHarriet AnderssonGunnel LindblomThree Swedish stage actresses give differing interpretations of the classic Aristophanes play "Lysistrata."
- DirectorLukas MoodyssonStarsAlexandra DahlströmRebecka LiljebergErica CarlsonTwo teenage girls in small-town Sweden. Elin is beautiful, popular, and bored with life. Agnes is friendless, sad, and secretly in love with Elin.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsIngrid ThulinGunnar BjörnstrandGunnel LindblomA small-town priest struggles with his faith.
- DirectorRuben ÖstlundStarsAnas AbdirahmanSebastian BlyckertYannick DiakitéAn astute observation based on real cases of bullying. In central Gothenburg, Sweden, a group of boys, aged 12-14, robbed other children on about 40 occasions between 2006 and 2008. The thieves used an elaborate scheme called the 'little brother number' or 'brother trick', involving advanced role-play and gang rhetoric rather than physical violence.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsUlla JacobssonEva DahlbeckHarriet AnderssonIn Sweden at the turn of the century, members of the upper class and their servants find themselves in a romantic tangle that they try to work out amidst jealousy and heartbreak.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsMax von SydowGunnar BjörnstrandBengt EkerotA knight returning to Sweden after the Crusades seeks answers about life, death, and the existence of God as he plays chess against the Grim Reaper during the Black Plague.
- DirectorVictor SjöströmStarsHilda BorgströmGeorg GrönroosAron LindgrenFinancial struggles separate a single mother from her children.
- DirectorStellan OlssonStarsHenric HolmbergEva RemaeusJan LindellSweden 1958. In a small provincial town there is a band who plays dance music twice every week. All decisions are made by Sven Klang, the undisputed leader of the band. A new member joins them, saxophone player Lasse. He starts to criticize Sven's decisions, questions the way they divide the money and he also wants them to be more of a jazz band.
- DirectorLisa AschanStarsMathilda ParadeiserLinda MolinIsabella LindquistTwo adolescent girls on an equine acrobatics team form an intimate friendship that becomes threatened by their competitive nature.
- DirectorTage DanielssonStarsMonica ZetterlundLars EkborgBirgitta AnderssonA group of party goers have trouble getting their boat ashore on a small island. The inhabitants of the island try to help, often with the help of an old sailor, and the results are absurd and hilarious.
- DirectorKay PollakStarsTomas FrykAnita EkströmIngvar HirdwallReine is supposed to go to a summer camp called Children's Island but decides to remain in Stockholm over the summer while his mother is working at a hospital. She thinks he is at the camp, and he tells her he is. We then follow him around Stockholm that summer and see what he encounters on the path of life.
- DirectorMauritz StillerStarsAnders de WahlTora TejeKarin MolanderEROTIKON surely pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable on the screen in 1920: Irene, the bored wife of a distracted entomologist, pursues a womanizing aviator, but she may actually be in love with Preben, her husband's best friend. Meanwhile, her husband seems to be getting unusually close with his own niece. Stiller obviously delights in teasing his audience with each scandalous plot twist and every salacious leer, and the result is a deliciously subversive comedy that was very much ahead of its time.
- DirectorBenjamin ChristensenStarsBenjamin ChristensenElisabeth ChristensenMaren PedersenFictionalized documentary showing the evolution of witchcraft, from its pagan roots to its confusion with hysteria in Eastern Europe.
- DirectorVilgot SjömanStarsLena NymanVilgot SjömanBörje AhlstedtTold in a quasi-documentary style, this companion piece to I Am Curious (Blue) (1968) deals with topics such as class society, non-violent resistance, sex, relationships, and tourism to Francoist Spain.
- DirectorTomas AlfredsonStarsKåre HedebrantLina LeanderssonPer RagnarOskar, an overlooked and bullied boy, finds love and revenge through Eli, a beautiful but peculiar girl.
- DirectorLasse HallströmStarsAnton GlanzeliusTomas von BrömssenAnki LidénIn the late '50s, young Ingemar learns a lot about life and himself when he is sent away from his sick mother to live with his aunt and uncle in a town full of eccentrics.
- DirectorWeyler HildebrandStarsThor ModéenCarl HagmanNils EricsonThe tenants in a Swedish boarding house are expecting a visit from Don Carlos, a famous opera singer from Argentina. When an unexpected visitor turns up, he is mistaken for Don Carlos.
- StarsLiv UllmannErland JosephsonBibi AnderssonTen years within the marriage of Marianne and Johan.
- DirectorBo WiderbergStarsPeter SchildtKerstin TideliusRoland HedlundDuring a strike strike-breakers are being transported to Lunde, where they are assaulted by the strikers. The military are sent in. On the 14th May 1931 there is a confrontation between demonstrators and the military who open fire and five people are killed and five injured.
- DirectorSuzanne OstenStarsEtienne GlaserPhilip ZandénHenry BronettAn opera director tries to put on a highly unconventional production of Mozart's Don Giovanni, but the cast and crew think all his ideas are terrible.
- DirectorArne SucksdorffStarsAnders NohrborgKjell SucksdorffArne SucksdorffA year in the lives of the animals living near a small Swedish farm.
- DirectorAlf SjöbergStarsAnita BjörkUlf PalmeMärta DorffAn heiress begins to realize her attraction to one of her family's servants.
- DirectorJan TroellStarsMaria HeiskanenAntti ReiniBerto MarklundA Finnish couple murders a young boy and his parents when they prevent the theft of their son's bicycle.
- DirectorBo WiderbergStarsSven WollterTomas von BrömssenHåkan SernerIn Stockholm, on St. Lucy's feast day, a bandit daringly robs a crowded post office. Within a fortnight, two witnesses are dead. Two cops from vice squad, Johansson and Jarnebring, who were the first to the crime scene, pursue all leads and identify a suspect, an arrogant member of the elite secret police, a man assigned to guard the country's Minister of Justice. Just as the beat cops think they've tightened the noose around the suspect, loose ends appear, witnesses lose their certainty, alibis crop up, and even the cops doubt what they've seen. Who's protecting the suspect and why?
- DirectorNils PoppeStarsNils PoppeSigge FürstCarl ReinholdzOrvar is a vagabond, walking the country roads and living on sunshine and generosity. One day he decides to find work somewhere to get some money. He becomes a helping hand for seven lumberjack brothers. The big and strong brothers really enjoy themselves, joking with the small and meek Orvar. Orvar does not know that he has inherited a large fortune but the seven brothers do and they begin to treat him with the greatest courtesy. They convince him to write his last will, making them his heirs, and then begin to make plans on how to kill him...
- DirectorTage DanielssonStarsGösta EkmanHans AlfredsonMargaretha KrookAlready in his childhood, Pablo Picasso shows talent for painting and is sent to the Academy of Arts in Madrid. He becomes a painter but has to live in Paris in poverty. One day he is discovered by an American millionaire and starts to earn money, but he wastes his talent by painting plates. He meets famous people of the 1920s: Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, Appolinaire, Hitler, and Churchill.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsHarriet AnderssonLars EkborgDagmar EbbesenA pair of teenagers meet one summer day, start a reckless affair and abandon their families to be with one another.
- DirectorMauritz StillerStarsVictor SjöströmKarin MolanderJosef FischerIn this sequel to Wanted - A Film Actress (1917), comedic situations follow Thomas and Bessie - beginning with the preparations of wedding ceremony, to the daily married life.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsHarriet AnderssonLiv UllmannKari SylwanWhen a woman dying of cancer in early twentieth-century Sweden is visited by her two sisters, long-repressed feelings between the siblings rise to the surface.
- DirectorMai ZetterlingStarsStina EkbladErland JosephsonPhilip ZandénSwedish author Agnes Von Krusenstjerna defies convention and her family's wishes by writing erotic fiction. As she harnesses her talent and explores her own sexuality, she puts herself on a dangerous path.
- DirectorColin NutleyStarsHelena BergströmRikard WolffSven WollterA rural village is divided when an extraordinary couple move into a mansion.
- DirectorTage DanielssonStarsPer GrundénGösta EkmanSture EricsonA German business man, Volkswagner, comes to Österlen in the south of Sweden to build Deutschneyland, a gigantic amusement park for German tourists. The local councilors and the member of parliament are all in favor of the idea, although it will turn vast areas into parking lots for cars. The Lindberg family does not like the idea and with the help of a little magic, they start scheming against it.
- DirectorMarie-Louise EkmanStarsBibi AnderssonPhilip BackströmMariella BallardiniA girl dreams of a festival, where family and the staff from her day-care center are involved.
- DirectorBo WiderbergStarsInger TaubeThommy BerggrenLars PassgårdFollowing his manifesto for a new Swedish cinema, director Widerberg started his career with this realist tale of young woman, Britt, who has two flings, but finds herself with difficult decisions when she finds herself pregnant.
- DirectorVictor SjöströmStarsVictor SjöströmEdith ErastoffJohn EkmanA stranger comes to work at widow Halla's farm.
- DirectorJohan KlingStarsMichelle MeadowsMichael SegerströmRichard UlfsäterA tragic and comic tale about beautiful and self-absorbed Eva, who cheats on her boyfriend, which becomes the starting point of a slow but relentless descent down to the life of ordinary people and a surprising, but doomed friendship.
- DirectorStefan JarlJan LindqvistStarsStefan JarlKenneth 'Kenta' GustafssonGustav 'Stoffe' SvenssonThe first entry in a series of films about the lives of social misfits Kenneth 'Kenta' Gustafsson and Gustav 'Stoffe' Svensson.
- DirectorBo WiderbergStarsPia DegermarkThommy BerggrenLennart MalmerThe Danish tightrope dancer Elvira Madigan meets Lieutenant Sixten Sparre, a Swedish officer who is married and has two children. They both decide to run away.
- DirectorFredrik EdfeldtStarsBlanca EngströmShanti RoneyAnnika HallinStory of a nine-and-a-half year old girl left alone in Sweden while her family is in Africa during the summer of 1981.
- DirectorMauritz StillerStarsLars HansonSven ScholanderEllen Hartman-CederströmA drunkard priest who has been cast out by his community struggles to atone and regain his honour and dignity.
- DirectorMauritz StillerStarsErik StocklassaBror BergerRichard LundIn 16th century Sweden, the lives of three Scottish mercenaries and a vicar's family intersect after a crime forever alters a small coastal town. As the three try to escape, they find themselves trapped when all ships are frozen in ice.
- DirectorGustaf MolanderStarsIngrid BergmanGösta EkmanInga TidbladAn innocent young pianist falls into an affair with a married violinist.
- StarsDavid DencikMats BlomgrenSten Johan HedmanFollows the Swedish serial killer and bank robber John Ausonius, nicknamed "the laser man".
- DirectorArne MattssonStarsAnita BjörkLillebil IbsenNils HallbergModel at prestigious fashion house murdered. Blackmail revealed as motive. Kajsa Hillman, employed there, uncovers potential killers. More deaths follow as culprit covers tracks.
- DirectorMai ZetterlingStarsIngrid ThulinKeve HjelmLena BrundinThe story about a man who's trying to get rid of his memories from his past. He grew up in an upper-class family in a castle and now revisits the castle with his fiancee.
- DirectorPer LindbergStarsTora TejeInga TidbladRenée BjörlingAbout a group of office girls hardships in the male world set in 1907. A collective fighting for female solidarity, civil rights and the conflict between love and work.
- DirectorMikael Kristersson
- DirectorJan TroellStarsIngvar CarlssonTage ErlanderRollo MayWhen the daughter Johanna is born in 1983, Jan Troell tells the story about his childhood Sweden and how things were when he grow-up in the land of fairy tales and potential prosperity.
- DirectorSuzanne OstenStarsPia BäckströmMalin EkEtienne GlaserIn a fictional country, around 1912, student are rioting. There are cries for democracy and to overthrow of the old regime. The revolt is brutally downcast by the regime's forces. The leader of the rebellion is arrested.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsMaj-Britt NilssonBirger MalmstenAlf KjellinA lonely woman recalls her first love thirteen years prior during a brief summer vacation.
- DirectorLukas MoodyssonStarsLisa LindgrenMichael NyqvistEmma SamuelssonIn 1975, the dynamics of a Swedish commune begin to change upon the arrival of a beaten wife and her two kids.
- DirectorTomas AlfredsonStarsRobert GustafssonJonas IndeJohan RheborgPercy Nilegaard collects Swedish single men and embarks on a bus trip to Tallinn with a so-called "highly-experienced driver".
- DirectorLasse HallströmStarsBrasse BrännströmMagnus HärenstamPia GreenThree friends who have not seen each other in seventeen years are reunited.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsIngrid ThulinGunnel LindblomBirger MalmstenTwo estranged sisters, Ester and Anna, and Anna's 10-year-old son travel to the Central European country on the verge of war. Ester becomes seriously ill and the three of them move into a hotel in a small town called Timoka.
- DirectorVilgot SjömanStarsBibi AnderssonMax von SydowPer MyrbergIf someone just then had told her that she in a few months would be the mistress of her boss, she would have become aggrieved and indignant. Women who tangled with married men were not acceptable to her.
- DirectorMarcus LindeenStarsOrlando FaginMikael JohanssonTwo men in their 60s meet for the first time and discuss their respective sex changes, and subsequent reversals.
- DirectorJesper GanslandtStarsOlle SarriEva RexedFrançoise JoyceA descent into hell, Jesper Ganslandt's disturbing and suspenseful second feature begins with a man waking up in unfamiliar surroundings, only to find the life he knew the day before is gone.
- DirectorMichel WenzerStarsJim CarlsonSpoon JacksonRick MisenerIn At Night I Fly: Images from New Folsom, inmates at one of California's most maximum security prisons let us see their world. This world is less about dangerous drama and more, as one of them describes, "about isolation. About closure of both the mind and the heart. And the spirit." The documentary shows prisoners, most serving a life sentence, who refuse such closure and instead work to uncover and express themselves. Their primary tool is making art and the film takes us to New Folsom's Arts in Corrections' room, to prison poetry readings, gospel choirs, blues guitar on the yard, and to many more scenes of creation.
- DirectorAxel PetersénStarsJohannes BrostPeter CarlbergLéonore EkstrandJanne, a 60-year-old party promoter is arranging a nightclub at the annual tennis week in the small coastal town, where he also teams up with his sister Jackie. But an accident turns his life upside down.
- DirectorHasse EkmanStarsErnst EklundElsa CarlssonSture LagerwallJacob Cotten is a rich banker quickly approaching his 60th birthday. He is concerned that neither of his sons are willing or able to be in charge of the bank. One is a spoiled parasite unable to do an honest day's work; the other has devoted his life to the communist youth club. Meanwhile, his beloved daughter Vica is unable to divorce her masochistic husband and gets herself a lover, an idealistic young medical student.
- DirectorAlf SjöbergStarsEva DahlbeckRagnar FalckUlf PalmeAbout serf wife Maria, called Rya-Rya, her life from a young beautiful girl with dreams of love to a worn-out mother, who only lives for her children.
- DirectorPer LindbergStarsOlof SandborgCarl StrömHilding GavleIn a small town anonymous letters are delivered to five different families. The letters are signed "Veritas" (Truth). They tell of a series of events and conditions that the recipients thought was forgotten and buried long ago.
- DirectorMai ZetterlingStarsPer OscarssonLone HertzUlf PalmeDoktor Glas face ethical complications when a woman, Helga Gregorius, asks for help in preventing her husband, the disgusting Pastor Gregorius, to have sex with her.
- DirectorPer ÅhlinStarsBeppe WolgersJens WolgersHalvar BjörkOn an evening in northern Sweden, during one night when the sun only partially sets, the animated character Dunderklumpen comes from the woods to seek some friends to keep him company. In one man's house, he finds toys belonging to a girl named Camilla and a boy named Jens, and brings them to life, whisking them away to the woods where he lives. This adorable and amusing crew includes a little scaredy-cat lion named Lionel, the demanding Doll, the cute harmonica-playing bear Pellegnillot and the ridiculous Dummy the bunny. Jens, Camilla's brother, sees the kidnapping after hearing the toys' cries for help and follows Dunderklumpen, who is not so quick to surrender his new-found company. They are also followed by Beppe, Jens' father, who is worried for his son traveling alone and is at first unaware of why Jens has run off. He is accompanied by a dutiful bumblebee. As a side plot, Dunderklumpen also has a small locked chest with him that contains a great treasure, and he is pursued by an old nemesis, One-Eye, who seeks the treasure for himself. No one knows what the contents are, but Dunderklumpen and One-Eye are both sure it's priceless.
- DirectorHasse EkmanStarsMaj-Britt NilssonAlf KjellinHasse EkmanA seemingly ordinary day in October. A woman has since she separated from her husband lived in a single room with a separate entrance. But for her this is not an ordinary day. She only has six hours left to live.
- DirectorVilgot SjömanStarsAnita EkströmGösta BredefeldtIngrid ThulinSet in 1909: A working-class girl is refused marriage by her politically committed boyfriend. As a result she becomes a maid in a rich household and the mistress of the master.
- DirectorGustaf MolanderStarsIngrid BergmanTore SvennbergAnders HenriksonAn embittered woman, leader of a criminal gang, has a change of heart.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsLiv UllmannBibi AnderssonMax von SydowA recently divorced man meets an emotionally devastated widow and they begin a love affair.
- DirectorEric M. NilssonTells about the history of luxury and how problematical memory and our images of the past are.
- DirectorKarin SwanströmStarsEinar AxelssonMagda HolmNils AréhnKatja's father won't buy her a new gown, so she wears her brother's tailcoat to the ball. This scandalizes the society in town, until she is forgiven by the town's matriarch.
- DirectorHasse EkmanStarsStig JärrelHasse EkmanElsie AlbiinAn out-of-work musician (Järrel) is desperate for work and when his best friend (Ekman) sees an add requesting a cellist he signs him up. However, the work is for a female, so he creates the character Märta Letterström and joins the trio at a small-town hotel. But being a woman is not as easy as you think.
- DirectorGöran GenteleStarsGunnar BjörnstrandLena SöderblomJarl KulleThe banker Marcus falls in love with the young ballet-dancer Maj who works at the opera. To meet her he takes a job there but Maj is in love with Osvald Berg, the big star of the opera. To wake Osvald's interest for her she asks Marcus if he could play deeply in love with her.
- DirectorHasse EkmanStarsSickan CarlssonHasse EkmanMeg WestergrenAn agent on the brink of bankruptcy finds a reluctant singing talent on a TV quiz show.
- DirectorTomas AlfredsonStarsRobert GustafssonMaria KulleKarl LinnertorpAn eccentric millionaire dies at a manor in Dalarna in Sweden, leaving behind three sons and a mistress. One of four parallel stories about parents and children. Four sides of Sweden. Four shades of brown.
- DirectorRoy AnderssonStarsThommy BerggrenMona SeilitzWillie AndréasonA man arrives in a Swedish port city to work as a waiter at the Hotel Busarewski. The man befriends two co-workers: the talkative Gustav "The Count" Svensson and the beautiful waitress Anna. Anna says that she is only there working temporarily, just like the man himself, and that she will soon move on to work at a seaside hotel. The Count, who is skilled in making others do what he wants, reveals to the man a plan he has that would bring them both lots of money and convinces him to assist in a poorly planned and failed attempt to free a friend of The Count who is in jail.
- DirectorJonas CornellStarsHans AlfredsonAnn-Marie GyllenspetzKeve HjelmLennart Siljeberg works at the Cattle Inspection Agency. He is the perfect bureaucrat, always careful and pedantic. The agency's latest mission is to extinguish all pigs on the island of Gotland. However, the local farmers protests which baffles Siljeberg who thinks that rules and regulations should be followed strictly.
- DirectorJohan BergenstråhleStarsMarie-Louise EkmanMalin GjörupAnders EkAbout a girl growing up in a big city in the seventies. She cultivates her artistic ambitions. After a series of relationships, she gets a small part in a play and becomes pregnant.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsIngrid BergmanLiv UllmannLena NymanA devoted wife is visited by her mother, a successful concert pianist who had little time for her when she was young.
- DirectorKjell GredeStarsFredrik BecklénMarie ÖhmanBeppe WolgersJosefin is a six-year-old girl who lives isolated in the countryside, where her father is a priest. She has no friends until she meets Hugo. He is a carefree boy who rather walk in the forest than go to school. Together with the gardener they make up fun things to do.