Girl with Hyacinths

Hasse Ekman's 1950 Swedish film begins when a young woman who has taken her own life leaves all her belongings to her neighbour. Though he barely knew her, he sets out to find the reason, and the story proceeds as a portrait built from testimony, each witness describing a different woman. The film builds one of the most cited structures in Swedish cinema and is counted among the strongest works of the period before Bergman. Ekman keeps the explanation for the end, and the final reason stands somewhere extremely bold for its time. Eva Henning's performance is at the centre. The structure is at times repetitive and some witnesses are more thinly written than others. Who it's for: viewers who like Nordic classics and dramas built as investigations. Who it's not for: anyone avoiding the subject of suicide, or wanting a fast narrative.