David Harald Vilgot Sjöman (2 December 1924 – 9 April 2006) was a Swedish writer and film director. His films deal with controversial issues of social class, morality, and sexual taboos, combining the emotionally tortured characters of Ingmar Bergman with the avant garde style of the French New Wave. He is best known as the director of the films 491 (1964), I Am Curious (Yellow) (in Swedish, "Jag är nyfiken – gul") (1967), and I Am Curious (Blue) ("Jag är nyfiken – blå") (1968), which stretched the boundaries of acceptability of what could then be shown on film, deliberately treating their subjects in a provocative and explicit manner.

Career

Sjöman was born in Stockholm, in a working-class family. His father, Anders W. Sjöman, was a builder; his mother was Mandis Pettersson. Sjöman became a clerk with a cereal company aged 15, but passed his studentexamen in 1945 and studied at Stockholm University. He then worked in a prison while writing plays (none of which were produced). He assisted Ingmar Bergman with his 1963 film, Winter Light ("Nattvardsgästerna").

Sjöman's second film, 491, from 1964, is based on a novel by Lars Görling and deals with the issues of homosexuality and juvenile delinquency; it includes a scene in which a girl is raped, off-screen, by a dog. His fourth film, My Sister My Love (Syskonbädd 1782), from 1966, again starred Bibi Andersson and is based on Tis Pity She's a Whore, a 17th-century play by John Ford about incest between twins, a brother and sister.

His most well-known film, I Am Curious (Yellow), was a political film that examined Swedish society from a critical, leftist viewpoint, portraying a young working-class sociology student, played by Lena Nyman, interviewing people about social classes in Sweden. Filmed in a knowing cinéma vérité style, she asks, "Do we have a class system in Sweden?" and receives the reply, "It depends on the people. Undress them, and they're all the same; dress them, and you have a class system." The film also shows the protagonist's affair with a young man, played by Börje Ahlstedt, and sparked controversy both in Sweden and abroad because of its nudity and realistic scenes of sexual intercourse between the two lovers. Rex Reed said the movie was "vile and disgusting" and Sjöman was "a very sick Swede with an overwhelming ego and a fondness for photographing pubic hair", but Norman Mailer described it as "one of the most important pictures I have ever seen in my life".

An 11-minute section was cut by the British censor, and copies of the film were seized by U.S. Customs in January 1968 as obscene, and banned as pornography in most of the United States. After the US Supreme Court overturned the anti-obscenity ban on First Amendment grounds,

thumb|Vilgot Sjöman in 1987

He directed his last film in 1995, a biography of Alfred Nobel, inventor, industrialist, and founder of the Nobel Prizes, entitled Alfred.

He died at age 81 from a cerebral haemorrhage in St. Görans Sjukhus in Stockholm, He had been awarded the Ingmar Bergman Prize in 2003 for pursuing this court case.

Filmography

Director

  • The Mistress (Älskarinnan) (1962)
  • Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie (Ingmar Bergman gör en film) (1963)
  • The Dress (Klänningen) (1964)
  • 491 (1964)
  • Negressen i skåpet (1965, Short)
  • My Sister My Love (Syskonbädd 1782) (1966)
  • Stimulantia (1967)
  • I Am Curious (Yellow) (Jag är nyfiken – en film i gult) (1967)
  • I Am Curious (Blue) (Jag är nyfiken – en film i blått) (1968)
  • You're Lying (Ni ljuger) (1969)
  • Journey with Father (Resa med far) (1969, Short)
  • Blushing Charlie (Lyckliga skitar) (1970)
  • Till Sex Do Us Part (Troll) (1971)
  • Älskade Jeanette MacDonald! (1972, Short)
  • Bröderna Karlsson (1974)
  • A Handful of Love (En handfull kärlek) (1974)
  • The Garage (Garaget) (1975)
  • Taboo (Tabu) (1975)
  • Linus and the Mysterious Red Brick House (Linus eller Tegelhusets hemlighet) (1979)
  • Brevet till Lotta (1979, Short)
  • Lekhagen (1980, Short)
  • I Am Blushing (Jag rodnar) (1981)
  • Malacca (1987)
  • En flicka kikar i ett fönster (1987)
  • Oskuld och sopor (1988)
  • The Pitfall (Fallgropen) (1989)
  • En ros till Ingemar (1989, Short)
  • Mannen i buren (1990, Short)
  • Self Portrait '92 (1992, Short)
  • Alfred (1995)

Actor

  • I Am Curious (Yellow) (Jag är nyfiken – en film i gult) (1967) - Vilgot Sjöman
  • I Am Curious (Blue) (Jag är nyfiken – en film i blått) (1968) - Vilgot Sjöman
  • Shame (1968) - TV-intervjuaren
  • You're Lying (Ni ljuger) (1969) - Film director (uncredited)
  • Till Sex Do Us Part (Troll) (1971) - Man (final film role)

References

  • Ten Scandinavian Directors – A Feature from The Criterion Collection That Includes Vilgot Sjöman
  • Obituary, The Independent, 12 April 2006
  • Rotten Tomatoes link to Sjoman films