Iris and the Lieutenant

“This lovely film is [Alf] Sjöberg’s warmest, most tender work” (Elliott Stein, Village Voice). Actors Alf Kjellin and Mai Zetterling proved to be such a successful pairing in Torment that Sjöberg brought them back for Iris and the Lieutenant. A young officer, Robert Motander, enrages his family and particularly his domineering father by falling in love with his aunt’s housemaid, Iris. There’s an aching, melancholic tinge to the affair. Underlying it all runs a note of guilt as a consequence of Sweden’s somewhat sanctimonious neutrality during World War II. Perhaps it’s also the presence of Kjellin and Zetterling, although they transcend the symbolic nature of their roles and come across as vivid, vulnerable personalities.