Flicka och hyacinter (1950) is a well-made movie. There are some unnecessary melodramatic elements, but they are few - surprisingly few. This is one of those films that has aged quite well. What makes it interesting is that it is - *spoiler alert* - a queer romance story that deals with its subject fairly openly. This dimension of the film would to some appear as just a twist of the story but I wouldn't say that it is. Actually, the film is pretty interesting because it plays with the expectations of the viewer. What is a love story? I'm curious about what kind of reception this movie was met with in its day.
The film is directed by Hasse Ekman, father of Gösta. It's a film that relies quite heavily on dialogue and the use of flashbacks, but it also has some nice-looking scenes of dimly lit interiors. As a mystery story, there's the necessary element of suspense. Dagmar Brink (a great performance by Eva Henning) is found dead in her apartment. It's obvious she committed suicide. Her neighbor, a good-natured writer, sets his mind on clarifying the circumstances of the suicide. He talks to people that knew Dagmar and gradually he comes to the conclusion that her suicide is an act of unhappy love. But it's not what he thinks. This is an elegant piece of Swedish film-making that has much in common with stuff Bergman made both previous to this movie and later on. I don't know to what extent the film is discussed today. Are there Swedish movies of the early fifties that are as good as this one? One thing I thought about while watching it was there was a lot of swearing in it. Maybe it was considered hip.
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