Cinema
Hugo and Josephine
Hugo och Josefin
Kjell Grede · 1967
Synopsis
Josephine is six years old and lives in the country, in the vicarage where her father is the pastor. She has no one to play with and will soon start school. One day, she packs her suitcase and leaves home. She meets Hugo, the nephew of the gardener Gudmarson: a boy who would rather walk in the forest than go to class. With him and with the gardener, she invents games and spends a summer that no adult comes to explain, and the summer will have to end.
Context
The first feature film by its director, it is drawn from three children's books by Maria Gripe published between 1961 and 1966, for which she wrote the adaptation with him; she recounted that they had wanted not to stick to the letter and to burst the covers open. Some twelve hundred children were tried out before the roles were given to an eleven-year-old boy and a ten-year-old girl. Filming took place at Kårsta, in Uppland, from the end of June to mid-September 1967. Well received, the film nevertheless made some critics doubt that it suited children, because it takes place largely inside the little girl's head.
Who it is for
Eighty-two minutes, in Swedish and in colour; the Swedish Film Institute recommends it for children aged seven to nine.
Prizes and reception
Guldbagge for best film, best direction and best cinematography; regarded by many as the best Swedish film for children.