Loving Couples

In a Swedish maternity hospital in 1914, three women prepare to give birth, their stories told through flashbacks. Level-headed aristocrat Angela (Gio Petré) is seduced by her aunt’s former lover; the cheerfully promiscuous maid/model Agda (Harriet Andersson) is matched up with a gay husband; and Adèle (Gunnel Lindblom) is the embittered wife of a tenant farmer. Abridged by Mai Zetterling and David Hughes from Fröknarna von Pahlen, the seven-volume novel by pioneer Swedish feminist writer Agnes von Krusenstjerna (subject of Zetterling’s 1986 biopic, Amorosa), and shot by the exceptionally talented cinematographer Sven Nyqvist, this feature debut caused a furor for its frank sexuality, lesbian relationships, and graphic scenes of childbirth.