Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
One summer day, two teens begin a reckless affair and abandon their families to be with one another.
Bergman's early masterpiece is defined above all by Gunnar Fischer's luminous black-and-white cinematography — the Stockholm archipelago sequences are among the most beautiful images in 1950s European cinema. The film's Novelty is equally high: its raw, unsentimental portrayal of young desire and its consequences was genuinely transgressive for its era, influencing the French New Wave directly (Godard cited it repeatedly). Harriet Andersson's incandescent, unguarded performance elevates the acting above average, though the male lead is less memorable. The plot is relatively simple and episodic, doing its job but not transcending it. The ending — Monika's famous direct gaze into the camera — is iconic and emotionally resonant, though the dramatic arc leading there is somewhat conventional.