Klänningen

Six months after the opening of the hugely controversial "491" Vilgot Sjöman returns to the screen with a new premiere, "The Dress". Adapted from a novel by Ulla Isaksson. Edit is 18 years old. She falls in love with an elegant haute couture dress. Helen, Edit's mother, hesitates but gives in to her daughter's insistent nagging. This opening scene is a work of art in itself. Cinematic as well as theatrical. We now enter a world of women. A drama ruled by order and guilt. Incestuous and self- sufficient, spotted by the lies, menstrual blood and pimples. Mother and daughter are both almost continuously occupied by body care, false consolations and female traumas. They are close together in an infantile community. Consistently they kick-out Herman, the lover of the mother. Later, much later... The trio Edit, Helen and Herman are portrayed by Tina Hedström, Gun Wållgren and Gunnar Björnstrand. It's Swedish acting at it's best. Bergman quality. In this film director Vilgot Sjöman chose to create a familiar drama in the golden cage of the bourgeois. Almost clean of social-criticism. Apart from the opening scene, "The Dress" will easily be forgotten. There are so many outstanding dramas made in Europe during the 60's.