Miss Julie is currently streaming on The Criterion Channel

Miss Julie (1951)91 minDrama, RomanceRating 67/100

Swedish filmmaker Alf Sjöberg’s visually innovative, Cannes Grand Prix-winning adaptation of August Strindberg’s renowned 1888 play brings to scalding life the excoriating words of the stage’s preeminent surveyor of all things rotten in the state of male-female relations. Miss Julie vividly depicts the battle of the sexes and classes that ensues when a wealthy businessman’s daughter (Anita Björk, in a fiercely emotional performance) falls for her father’s bitter servant. Celebrated for its unique cinematic style (and censored upon its first release in the United States for its adult content), Sjöberg’s film was an important turning point in Scandinavian cinema.

Cast: Anita Björk, Ulf Palme, Märta Dorff, Lissi Alandh, Anders Henrikson, Inga Gill, Max von Sydow

Director: Alf Sjöberg