Girl with Hyacinths
cert TBC
When writer Anders Wikner and his wife are informed that their neighbour, a young woman named Dagmar Brink, has ended her life and left her belongings to them, Anders turns detective and goes in search of the reason why. Taking inspiration from the narrative structure of Citizen Kane, Girl with Hyacinths unfolds through a series of flashbacks, gradually unravelling the story of Dagmar, who she was, and why she came to take her life. Eva Henning gives an exceptional performance as the enigmatic and forlorn heroine of the film.
Hailed by Bergman as a masterpiece, Girl with Hyacinths is remarkable for its delicate treatment of sensitive subject matter and is an unsung gem of early queer cinema.
This film will be screened from a 35mm print from the Swedish Film Institute.
Details
“ A film of haunting beauty.”
Kristin M. Jones, The Wall Street Journal
“It borrows narrative techniques from “Citizen Kane” (Ekman greatly admired Orson Welles) for a quite different story. The first shots are jagged and fragmented, dialogue heard from out of frame. Like “Kane,” only in the end will the audience understand what they’ve been watching.”
Farran Smith Nehme, RogerEbert.com
“Because of its structure, some have likened the film to Citizen Kane (1941)... though in eschewing Great Man mythology to investigate the case of a wasted woman, as well as its downbeat atmospherics, it might just as easily be likened to Agnès Varda's Vagabond (1985).”
Nick Pinkerton, Artforum