Sunday 10th December at 12 & 5pm

Girl with Hyacinths / Flicka och hyacinter
(Sweden, 1950, black and white, 99 minutes)

The film is an investigation of the suicide of a young woman, she of the title. The investigation is pursued by a neighbour played by Ulf Palme, who later appeared in the very fine Miss Julie (1951). The film relies on an interesting use of flashbacks. The cinematographer, Göran Strindberg, also worked on Miss Julie, directed by director Alf Sjöberg. Dialogue in Swedish.

The director Hasse Ekman worked as a writer and film-maker from the 1940s to the start of the 1960s; he was a contemporary and overshadowed by Ingmar Bergman. However, he was a successful and popular film-maker in Sweden.

Cross of Love / Rakkauden risti
(Finland, 1946, black and white, 89 minutes)

The film is based on a story by Alexander Pushkin. A young woman runs away to the city where she suffers exploitation before becoming a painter’s model., There are some relatively explicit scenes which, apparently, were censored in a Swedish language version.

Teuvo Tulio was a director who worked from the late 1930s through to the 1960s. His films are both very melodramatic and have an intensity of emotion that can sometime seem over the top. He often uses expressionist techniques. He is also reckoned to be an influence of the contemporary director Aki Kaurismaki. The leading player Regina Linnanheimo was a popular actress who worked on a number of occasions with Tulio and at times contributed to the script. The film dialogue includes Finnish, English and Russian.

Both films are screening from 35 mm archive prints, in the academy ratio and with English subtitles. So two ‘reel’ films on the same day is a treat. Unfortunately there is a three hours break between the screenings. Maybe visit the Hyde Park Book Club or Oxfam book shop?