Sunday, February 19, 2006

I am Curious (Yellow)

Swedish director Vilgot Sjöman was given free reign to make a movie, he made the movie that eliminated obscenity laws and brought artistic freedoms never seen before in film. I am Curious (Yellow) is the biequal to I am Curious (blue), although the yellow version was released in 1967 and the blue version in 1968. The film is a docudrama about the political and social turmoil of late 1960's Sweden but the topics discussed have global significance for the era. After its Swedish release the film would be confiscated by American customs and put on trial for being obscene and not to be viewed by American audiences. The film won in court and laws against this form of speech were nullified. The film is in Swedish with English subtitles and in black and white.

Director Vilgot Sjöman appears as himself in the film that is not intended to have a script. Lena Nyman plays herself as an aspiring 22 year old drama student. Vilgot contemplates documenting the political affairs of the day but Lena wants to explore her sexuality, she has no interest in politics. In this scene she points out the male drama student (Börje) in the audience of a political student rally with whom she would like to have a "quickie" with but Vilgot has other plans for the film.

Lena begins the documentary be interviewing people about the issues of the day. Economic differences amongs't Swedes is tackled by interviewing various economic groups all of whom claim there is no class system. People in the lower classes are in denial of their position and people in higher classes are indifferent to the issue.



The future prime minister of Sweden allows an interview by the director. He acknowledges economic differences in people and offers encouragment to change the satus quo. He also correctly forshadows the world's opinion about a progressive minded Sweden resulting from this film. Unaware to him, the Swedes will be seen as hyper-erotic, nontraditional, revolutionary by an American audience. Lena continues to be bored by the director's documentary and teases him sexually to entertain herself.

During the public interviews Lena goes to the airport and questions Swedish tourists to Spain. The tourists are indifferent to the Franco dictatorship and indifferent to a violent society at their doorstep. A discussion on violent societies leads to Lena's attraction to Martin Luther King Jr's (fictitious) interview with the director about non-violent means to change society.



In Lena's mind the state proposes a non-violent military and monthly non-violent excercises for Swedes. In this scene draftees practise stopping an enemy train by laying on the tracks.







Lena turns her room into a propaganda institute. The first sexual encounter between Lena and her male selection, Börje, occurs here 40 minutes into the film. Barely visible full male nudity is seen in cinema for the first time.





Lena goes on a retreat into the country and experiments with popular alternative lifestyles first appearing in the 60's ; voluntary simplicity, vegatarianism, social nudity, yoga.








Lena educates herself about sexual activities and thus joins the sexual revolution.








Börje joins her in the country and she dominates him because of her newly found education. This scene appears after a barely visible cunnilingus scene. The director testified in court that actual fellatio did not occur. Another first for cinema.






The couple continue to have sex but it is interupted when they fight over why Börje won't leave his real girlfriend. Fully visible male and female nudity challenges the court to an acceptable opinion.









In a dream sequence Lena ties men to a tree and shoots Börje.








She then takes a knife and castrates him.









Her act of violence makes her confront her previous ambition to practise non-violent means followed by Martin Luther King jr. In this scene she tells him she will not follow him anymore. A broken heart has overcome better judgment.





All her escapes were not to be without consequences. Vilgot offers us a moral ending. Lena and Börje become infected with scabies and have to be treated at the hospital. Suddenly the glimpses of nudity throughout the film seem sexually devoid and a real experience for us as we watch with understanding acceptance of our human frailty.



The follow up film, I am curious (blue) , shows the significance that scabies had throughout the making of the film. After completing this film the director wrote a memoir about his moral conflicts.





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