Ingmar Bergman directs Nine-Christine Jönsson, Bengt Eklund and Mimi Nelson in this melodrama about a promiscuous and lonely reform school girl who falls for a sailor.

He is considered one of arthouse cinema’s greatest directors and yet this simple, early work is the first Bergman movie I’ve ever actually enjoyed. Every interaction could be a Belle & Sebastian lyric, every frame the cover of a The Smiths 7 inch single. I got involved in the horny unfairness of it all. It lacked his usual wordy pretentions and had a little hope in its gloominess. I hope those kids make it together.

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