Cinema
Summer Paradise
Paradistorg
Gunnel Lindblom · 1977
Synopsis
Every summer, the Wik family gathers at Paradistorg, an old merchant's villa in the Stockholm archipelago. Katha, a divorced doctor and mother of two grown daughters, is at its centre; she receives her relatives there, and her friend Emma. But the idyll cracks: Katha's nephew, Thomas, seems to have lost the taste for life in the face of the world's horrors, and the arrival of Ingrid, a friend of her daughter, with a difficult child, sets off resentments and quarrels between generations.
Context
The first feature film by its director, the film is drawn from a book by Ulla Isaksson published in 1973, which she adapted with the novelist. The idea came from Ingmar Bergman, who produced it through his company Cinematograph; caught up in his dealings with the tax authorities and his departure for Germany, he could not follow the shoot. Received lukewarmly by Swedish critics, the film was shown in a parallel section of the Cannes festival in 1977, and became one of the great export successes of Swedish cinema of the decade.
Who it is for
One hundred and thirteen minutes, in Swedish. A film of conversations, made up of clashes between adults rather than events.
Prizes and reception
Guldbagge for best actress for Birgitta Valberg, who plays Katha, and one of the best-selling Swedish films abroad in the seventies.