
Mai Elisabeth Zetterling ( May 24, 1925 – March 17, 1994) was a Swedish actress and film director. She began directing in the early 1960s, starting with political documentaries and a short film called The War Game (1962), which was nominated for a BAFTA award, and won a Silver Lion at Venice. Her first feature film Älskande par (1964, "Loving Couples"), based on the novels of Agnes von Krusenstjerna, was banned at the Cannes Film Festival for its sexual explicitness and nudity. Kenneth Tynan of The Observer later called it "one of the most ambitious debuts since Citizen Kane." It was not the only film she made that would stir up controversy for its frank sexuality (early pioneer on voyeurism). When critics reviewing her debut feature said that "Mai Zetterling directs like a man," she began to explore feminist themes more explicitly in her work. The Girls, which had an all-star Swedish cast including Bibi Andersson and Harriet Andersson, discussed women's liberation (or lack thereof) in a society controlled by men, as the protagonists compare their lives to characters in the play Lysistrata, and find that things have not progressed very much for women since ancient times.
68 movies · 11 TV shows, newest first

Prejudice and Pride: Swedish Film Queer
2022
Regissören: En film om Mai Zetterling
2015
Meeting with Mai
1996
Minns ni?
1993
Morfars resa
1993
Love at First Sight
1992
Sellers' Best
1992
Sunday Pursuit
1990
Hidden Agenda
1990
The Witches
1990
The Making of 'Hidden Agenda'
1990
Chillers
1990
Maybe I Really Am a Sorceress
1989
Calling the Shots
1988Concrete Grandma
1986
Amorosa
1986
The Hitchhiker
1983
Scrubbers
1982
Love
1982Of Seals and Men
1981Stulet nyår
1978
Svenska noveller
1978
Mai Zetterling's Stockholm
1978
My Heart Is Red
1977
The Moon Is a Green Cheese
1977
We Have Many Names
1976
Visions of Eight
1973
Vincent the Dutchman
1972Film '72
1971
The Girls
1968
Doctor Glas
1968
One Pair of Eyes
1967
Night Games
1966
Lianbron
1965
Loving Couples
1964
The Man Who Finally Died
1963
The War Game
1963
The Bay of St. Michel
1963
The Main Attraction
1962
Only Two Can Play
1962Lords of Little Egypt: Mai Zetterling Among the Gypsies
1961
Offbeat
1961
Faces in the Dark
1960
Danger Man
1960
Piccadilly Third Stop
1960
The Third Man
1959
Jet Storm
1959
Interpol Calling
1959The Traitor
1959
Playing on the Rainbow
1958
The Master Builder
1958
The Truth About Women
1957
Seven Waves Away
1957
Armchair Theatre
1956
Ett dockhem
1956
A Prize of Gold
1955
Dance Little Lady
1954
Knock on Wood
1954
Desperate Moment
1953
The Ringer
1952
Tall Headlines
1952
Hell Is Sold Out
1951
Blackmailed
1951
The Romantic Age
1949
The Lost People
1949The Bad Lord Byron
1949
Portrait from Life
1948
Studio One
1948
Quartet
1948Life Starts Now
1948
Music in Darkness
1948
Frieda
1947
Sunshine Follows Rain
1946
Iris and the Lieutenant
1946
Prince Gustaf
1944
Torment
1944
Jag dräpte
1943
Lasse-Maja
1941The Polite Invasion
—