One Summer of Happiness

As practically everybody knows, One Summer of Happiness contains a nude bathing scene that has heated the blood of various American censors. The Swedish movie opened in Boston in its original form, but sure enough, several days later its scenario was discreetly "edited," while in the Beacon Hill's newspaper advertisements Kirsten, the young heroine, suddenly acquired a bathing suit. The cutting has not hurt the film much, but of course it was stupid and unnecessary. In either of its versions, One Summer of Happiness is restrained, beautiful, and totally lacking in offensiveness. It displays infinitely better artistic taste than, to take an obvious example, the "Miss Universe" short that precedes it on the Beacon Hill program.

One Summer of Happiness is the story of a summer love affair. But unlike most such romances, which are merely animal exercises, this one involves deeper feelings and broader meanings. Goren Stendal, a college student, goes to spend the summer on his uncle's farm among the "simple folk." Here he meets and falls in love with the young Kirsten, not sweeping her off her feet, but on the contrary attracting her most strongly when he displays the least urbanity.

As the young romance follows its spontaneous and inexorable course, it comes into conflict with various not-so-natural values of the conventional world. Most obviously, there is the puritanism of the village pastor and others who try to prevent the young lovers from acting in accordance with their emotions. The ancient contrast between sophisticated city and simple country life also becomes an important element in the story, as does the struggle between father and son, between obedience and independence. The movie's ending is touching and appropriate, refraining as it does from giving an easy answer, or any answer at all, to the various moral questions that have been posed.

Technically, the movie is altogether excellent. The camera uses black and white film but still gets some lovely views of the Swedish countryside. Director Arne Mattsfon has paced the movie with restrained acceleration, so that the swimming scene comes as an appropriate consummation of the romance. In the role of Goren, Folk Sundquist seemed somewhat too coarse-looking, but nevertheless engineered beautifully his gradual change from urban callousness to rural purity. As Kirsten, Ulla Jacobsson looked and acted like a young Ingrid Bergman.