Loving Couples

Mai Zetterling’s feature debut owes its existence to… a LUX soap commercial. An invitation to participate in the campaign gave her the opportunity to travel from England (where she had been living for years) back to her native Sweden – and she brought with her the idea for Loving Couples. Based on a scandalous novel from the 1930s, the film premiered amidst controversy. The mayor of Cannes, where the film was screened, banned posters depicting nude figures from being hung along the Croisette, the press called for “the censorship of all of Sweden,” as Zetterling later recalled, and critics wrote that she “directed like a man.” “When I danced with Peter Sellers in a tiny dress, I was the woman of their fantasies. So the fact that I stood behind the camera became a problem,” she recounted.

The story, adapted from the book by Agnes von Krusenstjerna, begins in a maternity ward, where we meet three pregnant women. A series of memories and fantasies takes us through the twists and turns of their lives, placed within a broad social context. Beautifully shot by the legendary cinematographer Sven Nykvist, Zetterling’s film boldly explores themes of sex, reproduction, and gender – all entangled in hypocrisy and violence. Often considered a female response to Bergman’s work, Loving Couples is openly queer and includes one of cinema’s first documentary-style childbirth scenes. As Zetterling herself put it, her film – through its avant-garde language – addresses “all the taboos of marriage and female freedom.”

Małgorzata Sadowska

Mai Zetterling (1925–1994) was a Swedish actress, director, and screenwriter. She began her career as an actress and gained international recognition for her role in Torment (1944), directed by Alf Sjöberg. In the 1960s, she turned to directing, exploring themes such as loneliness and sexuality in her films. Her debut feature, Loving Couples (1964), sparked controversy at the Cannes Film Festival due to its bold depiction of sexuality.