Vilgot Sjöman

Directing

Vilgot Sjöman

Born — Died

1924-12-02 — 2006-04-09

Place of birth

Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden

Known for

Directing

Credits

60 titles

David Harald Vilgot Sjöman 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.

Known for

Shame poster
7.5

In the midst of a civil war, a pair of former violinists in a tempestuous marriage oversee a farm on a rural island. In spite of their best efforts to escape their homeland, the war impinges on every aspect of their lives.

Shame

1968

I Am Curious (Yellow) poster
5.7

Lena, aged twenty, wants to know all she can about life and reality. She collects information on everyone and everything, storing her findings in an enormous archive. She experiments with relationships, political activism, and meditation. Meanwhile, the actors, director and crew are shown in a humorous parallel plot about the making of the film and their reactions to the story and each other. Nudity, explicit sex, and controversial politics kept this film from being shown in the US while its seizure by Customs was appealed.

I Am Curious (Yellow)

1967

My Sister My Love poster
6.5

Sweden, 1782. Jacob, a young noble, somewhat wild and vehement, returns from his studies in France. After his absence, he returns home happy, but is even happier of meeting his beloved sister Charlotte again. However, she has been promised to the Baron Alsmeden, a man of great influence at court, and this fact will awake a feeling like jealousy in Jacob.

My Sister My Love

1966

Filmmakers vs. Tycoons poster
6.8

How the cinema industry does not respect the author's work as it was conceived, how manipulates the motion pictures in order to make them easier to watch by an undemanding audience or even how mutilates them to adapt the original formats and runtimes to the restrictive frame of the television screen and the abusive requirements of advertising. (Followed by “Filmmakers in Action.”)

Filmmakers vs. Tycoons

2005

I Am Curious (Blue) poster
5.5

The same movie with the same characters, cast and crew as I am Curious (Yellow), but with some different scenes and a different political slant. The political focus in Blue is personal relationships, religion, prisons and sex. Blue omits much of the class consciousness and non-violence interviews of the first version. Yellow and Blue are the colors of the Swedish flag.

I Am Curious (Blue)

1968

Lena poster
8.1

Follows the story of the beloved and internationally acclaimed Swedish actress Lena Nyman, based on 17 paper bags with diaries that she left behind.

Lena

2021

Film credits

2010s · 3 titles

2000s · 3 titles

1960s · 9 titles

Shame poster
7.5

In the midst of a civil war, a pair of former violinists in a tempestuous marriage oversee a farm on a rural island. In spite of their best efforts to escape their homeland, the war impinges on every aspect of their lives.

Shame

1968

I Am Curious (Yellow) poster
5.7

Lena, aged twenty, wants to know all she can about life and reality. She collects information on everyone and everything, storing her findings in an enormous archive. She experiments with relationships, political activism, and meditation. Meanwhile, the actors, director and crew are shown in a humorous parallel plot about the making of the film and their reactions to the story and each other. Nudity, explicit sex, and controversial politics kept this film from being shown in the US while its seizure by Customs was appealed.

I Am Curious (Yellow)

1967

I Am Curious (Blue) poster
5.5

The same movie with the same characters, cast and crew as I am Curious (Yellow), but with some different scenes and a different political slant. The political focus in Blue is personal relationships, religion, prisons and sex. Blue omits much of the class consciousness and non-violence interviews of the first version. Yellow and Blue are the colors of the Swedish flag.

I Am Curious (Blue)

1968

Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie poster
7.3

The year is 1961 and Ingmar Bergman is making a movie. While planted on the scene as apprentice to Bergman, Vilgot Sjöman (director, I Am Curious–Yellow, 1967), suggests to Swedish Television that they take the opportunity to record with the acclaimed director. In August, Sjöman and the television crew begin to capture what would become a comprehensive five-part documentary on the making of Winter Light, offering views of script development, set construction and lighting, rehearsals and editing, as well as intimate conversations with Bergman and members of his cast and crew. Footage from the film’s Swedish premiere delivers immediate audience reactions and the critics’ reviews the following day.

Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie

1963

Dance Around the Guldbaggen poster
NR

Filmed during the first ever Guldbaggen (golden scarab) awards, it was edited and developed that night and shown for the first time to the guests at the after party.

Dance Around the Guldbaggen

1964

Stimulantia poster
6.1

Eight vignettes on a variety of topics, including a baby growing up, Charlie Chaplin, Birgit Nilsson, the racing track at Le Mans, erotic cleanliness, French literature, and a black woman in a cupboard in the neighborhood of Farsta near Stockholm.

Stimulantia

1967

You're Lying! poster
6.0

About an alcohol-damaged young man, his life in and out of prison, his friend the art teacher and his difficulties reintegrating into society.

You're Lying!

1969

A Testimony About Her poster
NR

"A testimony about her." Her being the actor and vocalist Monica Zetterlund. At 25 in the beginning of her career. Monica sings with a trio at a concert. Returns to her empty home in Stockholm. Relaxes in loneliness. Next morning. An interview with writer Vilgot Sjöman. Then off to recording at a studio with the Phillips Recording Orchestra, featuring Jan Johansson on piano. Later a concert at Nalen in Stockholm.

A Testimony About Her

1963

No artwork available
10.0

Swedish filmmaker Vilgot Sjöman takes his old father Wiktor on a drive to his childhood environment.

Traveling with Father

1969

Series credits

Behind the camera

I Am Curious (Yellow) poster
5.7

Lena, aged twenty, wants to know all she can about life and reality. She collects information on everyone and everything, storing her findings in an enormous archive. She experiments with relationships, political activism, and meditation. Meanwhile, the actors, director and crew are shown in a humorous parallel plot about the making of the film and their reactions to the story and each other. Nudity, explicit sex, and controversial politics kept this film from being shown in the US while its seizure by Customs was appealed.

I Am Curious (Yellow)

1967

I Am Curious (Yellow) poster
5.7

Lena, aged twenty, wants to know all she can about life and reality. She collects information on everyone and everything, storing her findings in an enormous archive. She experiments with relationships, political activism, and meditation. Meanwhile, the actors, director and crew are shown in a humorous parallel plot about the making of the film and their reactions to the story and each other. Nudity, explicit sex, and controversial politics kept this film from being shown in the US while its seizure by Customs was appealed.

I Am Curious (Yellow)

1967

My Sister My Love poster
6.5

Sweden, 1782. Jacob, a young noble, somewhat wild and vehement, returns from his studies in France. After his absence, he returns home happy, but is even happier of meeting his beloved sister Charlotte again. However, she has been promised to the Baron Alsmeden, a man of great influence at court, and this fact will awake a feeling like jealousy in Jacob.

My Sister My Love

1966

My Sister My Love poster
6.5

Sweden, 1782. Jacob, a young noble, somewhat wild and vehement, returns from his studies in France. After his absence, he returns home happy, but is even happier of meeting his beloved sister Charlotte again. However, she has been promised to the Baron Alsmeden, a man of great influence at court, and this fact will awake a feeling like jealousy in Jacob.

My Sister My Love

1966

I Am Curious (Blue) poster
5.5

The same movie with the same characters, cast and crew as I am Curious (Yellow), but with some different scenes and a different political slant. The political focus in Blue is personal relationships, religion, prisons and sex. Blue omits much of the class consciousness and non-violence interviews of the first version. Yellow and Blue are the colors of the Swedish flag.

I Am Curious (Blue)

1968

I Am Curious (Blue) poster
5.5

The same movie with the same characters, cast and crew as I am Curious (Yellow), but with some different scenes and a different political slant. The political focus in Blue is personal relationships, religion, prisons and sex. Blue omits much of the class consciousness and non-violence interviews of the first version. Yellow and Blue are the colors of the Swedish flag.

I Am Curious (Blue)

1968

Tabu poster
5.0

Solidarity with the border people. Equal rights for the sexual deviants. Kristoffer Lohman is a young solicitor who collects stories and knowledge of different perversions. This has affected and changed his own sexual life. Sara, a young well-behaved and adorned woman, becomes interested in Kristoffer's activity.

Tabu

1977

Tabu poster
5.0

Solidarity with the border people. Equal rights for the sexual deviants. Kristoffer Lohman is a young solicitor who collects stories and knowledge of different perversions. This has affected and changed his own sexual life. Sara, a young well-behaved and adorned woman, becomes interested in Kristoffer's activity.

Tabu

1977

491 poster
5.8

A study in forgiveness as oppression and goodness as provocation. Six youth criminals are chosen to participate in a social experiment where they are assigned to live together in a rundown apartment in the heart of Stockholm, Sweden. The six boys are being supervised by two forgiving and uneasy social workers. Their need to continue to commit petty crimes escalates out of boredom with the situation. One night they run into a young girl in trouble.

491

1964

491 poster
5.8

A study in forgiveness as oppression and goodness as provocation. Six youth criminals are chosen to participate in a social experiment where they are assigned to live together in a rundown apartment in the heart of Stockholm, Sweden. The six boys are being supervised by two forgiving and uneasy social workers. Their need to continue to commit petty crimes escalates out of boredom with the situation. One night they run into a young girl in trouble.

491

1964

The Garage poster
9.0

Psychological thriller where a religion teacher's wife is having an affair with the school principal. Guilt feelings in the situation leads to both attempted suicide and murder.

The Garage

1975

No artwork available
8.0

Larry Pedersen, professor of psychology of religion, has just divorced when a student named Elisabeth student must take the exam before him. Later in the evening the same day, she is beaten by her boyfriend and then Pedersen offers her a bed for the night.

Fallgropen

1989

Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie poster
7.3

The year is 1961 and Ingmar Bergman is making a movie. While planted on the scene as apprentice to Bergman, Vilgot Sjöman (director, I Am Curious–Yellow, 1967), suggests to Swedish Television that they take the opportunity to record with the acclaimed director. In August, Sjöman and the television crew begin to capture what would become a comprehensive five-part documentary on the making of Winter Light, offering views of script development, set construction and lighting, rehearsals and editing, as well as intimate conversations with Bergman and members of his cast and crew. Footage from the film’s Swedish premiere delivers immediate audience reactions and the critics’ reviews the following day.

Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie

1963

Stimulantia poster
6.1

Eight vignettes on a variety of topics, including a baby growing up, Charlie Chaplin, Birgit Nilsson, the racing track at Le Mans, erotic cleanliness, French literature, and a black woman in a cupboard in the neighborhood of Farsta near Stockholm.

Stimulantia

1967

Stimulantia poster
6.1

Eight vignettes on a variety of topics, including a baby growing up, Charlie Chaplin, Birgit Nilsson, the racing track at Le Mans, erotic cleanliness, French literature, and a black woman in a cupboard in the neighborhood of Farsta near Stockholm.

Stimulantia

1967

Linus eller Tegelhusets hemlighet poster
7.0

16 year old Linus, living in 1930s Stockholm, dreams of becoming a poet, while working in a bookstore. After visiting a brickhouse with his father, Linus becomes involved with several of its inhabitants, including an enigmatic Ambassadress; her housekeeper Abigail, who Linus falls in love with; the janitor, who manages a brothel in the basement; Linus’ father’s best friend, who gets murdered.

Linus eller Tegelhusets hemlighet

1979

Linus eller Tegelhusets hemlighet poster
7.0

16 year old Linus, living in 1930s Stockholm, dreams of becoming a poet, while working in a bookstore. After visiting a brickhouse with his father, Linus becomes involved with several of its inhabitants, including an enigmatic Ambassadress; her housekeeper Abigail, who Linus falls in love with; the janitor, who manages a brothel in the basement; Linus’ father’s best friend, who gets murdered.

Linus eller Tegelhusets hemlighet

1979

Playing on the Rainbow poster
9.0

The school counselor Vanja believe neither in love, marriage or a woman's subservient role to the man. One day she meets the student Björn. Their romance is full of problems. Along comes a man from Vanjas past.

Playing on the Rainbow

1958

The Mistress poster
6.0

A young woman, living in a relationship, falls in love with a married man.

The Mistress

1962

The Mistress poster
6.0

A young woman, living in a relationship, falls in love with a married man.

The Mistress

1962

Defiance poster
7.0

A teacher is so hard on his students that he faces a warning by the school principal. In order to at least improve the strained relationship with his own son, he turns to a priest for advice.

Defiance

1952

You're Lying! poster
6.0

About an alcohol-damaged young man, his life in and out of prison, his friend the art teacher and his difficulties reintegrating into society.

You're Lying!

1969

You're Lying! poster
6.0

About an alcohol-damaged young man, his life in and out of prison, his friend the art teacher and his difficulties reintegrating into society.

You're Lying!

1969

Alfred poster
4.7

The life of the Swedish engineer Alfred Nobel. How he invented dynamite and later in his life founded the Nobel-Prize.

Alfred

1995

Kristoffers hus poster
8.0

Kristoffer lives on the verge of poverty, just barely supporting himself on his photographic work and an allowance given him by his ex-wife to support their child. He is staying in his absentee mother's large old house, which she is preparing to sell. When he takes a photograph of a man who died by his own hand, the image fascinates him. He grows obsessed with the dead man's story and pushes his research as far as it will go.

Kristoffers hus

1979

I am Blushing poster
9.0

"I am blushing" - Swedish comedy about a film crew traveling to the Philippines to find environments for a movie.

I am Blushing

1981

I am Blushing poster
9.0

"I am blushing" - Swedish comedy about a film crew traveling to the Philippines to find environments for a movie.

I am Blushing

1981

I am Blushing poster
9.0

"I am blushing" - Swedish comedy about a film crew traveling to the Philippines to find environments for a movie.

I am Blushing

1981

Siska poster
6.3

A young woman struggles with life, love and career. She is courted by a young man but is unwilling to enter into a relationship if it means limiting her freedom.

Siska

1962

Blushing Charlie poster
4.9

Truckdriver and bachelor Charlie meets homeless and seven months pregnant Pia. They both dream of finding someone to share their lives with. Charlie then faces a dilemma whether to take part in a demonstration in favor of Cuba, and in addition with his employer's truck.

Blushing Charlie

1970

Blushing Charlie poster
4.9

Truckdriver and bachelor Charlie meets homeless and seven months pregnant Pia. They both dream of finding someone to share their lives with. Charlie then faces a dilemma whether to take part in a demonstration in favor of Cuba, and in addition with his employer's truck.

Blushing Charlie

1970

No artwork available
7.0

It has just been a funeral when the daughter and son-in-law return from their honeymoon. Now the house is haunted. The empty rocking chair rocks, the doors slam, the paintings fall down and papers fly through the room. In the chiffonier's maple compartment is found a letter from the dead father. This letter is hidden again, rediscovered and finally torn up. The despairing, frozen and coughing son does not give up. He drills his way to the truth. It hits hard right up until the final catastrophe, awakening and liberation.

Pelikanen

1982

The Dress poster
9.0

Edit is pleased that her mother agrees to let her buy a dress she loves, but which in fact is made for an adult woman.

The Dress

1964

A Handful of Love poster
4.7

Set against the backdrop of the 1909 general strike, Hjördis is employed as a housemaid in a wealthy Stockholm family.

A Handful of Love

1974

A Handful of Love poster
4.7

Set against the backdrop of the 1909 general strike, Hjördis is employed as a housemaid in a wealthy Stockholm family.

A Handful of Love

1974

Till Sex Do Us Part poster
3.0

This Swedish sex-comedy/drama explores the complications in the relationship of a couple who believe that if they make love to each other, they will die. They neck and are physically affectionate in public as well as in private, but have a big taboo against sexual consummation. Their situation drives them to distraction, and they unsuccessfully seek various extramarital outlets for their frustrations.

Till Sex Do Us Part

1971

Malacca poster
8.0

A young man and woman are touring around Asia with rucksacks on their backs. They meet a stranger, who turns out to be more dangerous than he seems.

Malacca

1987

Malacca poster
8.0

A young man and woman are touring around Asia with rucksacks on their backs. They meet a stranger, who turns out to be more dangerous than he seems.

Malacca

1987

No artwork available
10.0

Swedish filmmaker Vilgot Sjöman takes his old father Wiktor on a drive to his childhood environment.

Traveling with Father

1969

No artwork available
10.0

Swedish filmmaker Vilgot Sjöman takes his old father Wiktor on a drive to his childhood environment.

Traveling with Father

1969