La Chair et le Démon

A fascinating glimpse of what might have been had Liv Ullmann met Ingmar Bergman earlier, since she played the little minx described as "rude and up for anything" as which he'd earlier cast Harriet Andersson and would later cast Gunnel Lindblom.

In a storyline that in places anticipates 'Knife in the Water' it also looks forward to Michael Powell's 'Age of Consent' in showcasing a distinguished actress in her youth as a free spirit cavorting in long blonde hair and nothing else against a backdrop of scenic splendour.

Liv's stunning beauty and talent was already present in this great little film. Revealing the feminine personality, the film sheds light on Norwegian society at the time, much more free and advanced than its European contemporaries. And Liv live !!!

If this film has any claim to fame, it is of being the first film performance of Liv Ullman, the actress known internationally for her work with Ingmar Bergman.

Here, in a film directed by Edith Carlmar (Norway's first female film director), and written by her husband, Otto Carlmar, and Niels Johan Rud, Ullman is fierce and headstrong; exuding a confidence in her desires and right to be who she is that hits hard, making it clear why she went on to be a star.

She plays Gerd, a party girl with whom Anders (played by Atle Merton) has fallen in love. He is from a reserved, middle-class family, and early on we learn he is soon to leave for university. When his mother won't allow him to bring Gerd on a family camping holiday however, he steals his father's car and takes Gerd away to a remote cabin where they can be alone.

It's the films non-judgemental approach to sex and desire that is most surprising. I'm so used to a strict and rigid morality (especially in films from the mid-20th century) that I found half-way through that I was waiting on a comeuppance that the film is not interested in delivering.

This is not to say that life is easy for the characters but the film is not interested in moralising. When Ander's father and Gerd's mother head out together to track them down, Gerd's mother speaks openly of the promiscuity of her daughter and the possibility of her now being pregnant. It's clear this surprises Ander's father but he accepts her openness with no more than a raised eyebrow. That they subsequently find the young couple naked is treated as annoying for the youths and nothing else.

So it was more than half-way through the movie before I was able to more clearly see what the film was pointing at. The movie is concerned with Gerd, and the possibility of change. Gerd's mother evinces no desire to see Gerd change - she had Gerd out of wedlock, was often absent during her childhood thanks to the need to work, and she takes to her daughter's hookup with the middle-class Anders with a certain glee - however Anders very much wants Gerd to change. He has fallen in love with her, with her beauty and wildness and authenticity, but contradictorily, he wants to tame her, to make her fit in with his pre-planned life. He thinks it is the city, and her wicked friends who are ruining her so, for him, the trip to the cabin is a return to some pre-fall Eden where Gerd will be happy away from temptation. But even before a snake shows up, Gerd is not sure this place is for her. She oscillates between delight in their idyllic freedom, and disgust at the lack of prepared food, cigarettes, and coke. She loves to swim as far as she can in the lake but yearns too to dance in a nightclub. We see that, away from the distractions of others, she is filled with self-doubt, knowing that men, and maybe Anders, only want her for her body, and yet, unsure of what else she has to offer.

The question then is; will this work? Will Gerd change? Should she? Is it the city that induces waywardness or is it innate? What will it take for her to be happy? The answers seems to be going well for Anders until a stranger shows up. Gerd is attracted to this mans equally wild disregard for the conventions of polite society, and the tension between the three of them is the knot that the film picks at.

Merton's Anders is, unfortunately, a bit of a drip for most of the run time, though there are flashes of anger when he doesn't get his way which hint at the darker desires and more rounded portrayal that might have been. As it is, it is hard to see what Gerd sees in him. When Rolf Soder as the stranger shows up, it's easy to see why Gerd finds him alluring; he's charming but dangerous. This imbalance between the men is a deficiency that the film just can't overcome. What consistently saves it though is the delicious heat from Ullman as she revels in her casual power over both of them.

I won't reveal what happens but I can say I liked that things were left a little ambiguous at the end. A new equilibrium has been reached, how long it can last is an open question; it will require work and understanding on all sides. That understanding is a more mature and considered conclusion than I expected.

The Wayward Girl is, like its heroine, fun with a streak of darkness. If it's viewed today only because of Ullman, that's okay, but it seems a great shame that director Carlmar never made another film. She and the writers have a sensitivity to human nature that would be interesting to see more of.

"Ung Flukt" aka "The Wayward Girl" (1959) is the fifth Edith Carlmar movie I have watched recently, and one thing I can say without a doubt is that she was better at dramas than she was at comedies. It is an uneven film that gets a shot in the arm when Rolf Søder enters the picture in the second half and the film changes gears from a New Wave-y ode to the utopia of escape from everyday life to a thriller-ish love triangle; the story definitely becomes more compelling. A ravishing, voluptuous 20-year-old Liv Ullmann has her first major screen role here and takes the screen by storm. *** out of 4.

The somewhat familiar story of a well-to-do "good" boy who gets involved with a "bad" girl from the poor side of town. The story of Anders, a promising student and the apple of his parent's eye, and Gerd, a "wayward" girl who is the bane of her single mother's existence, "You little whore!" . . . "Whore's do it for money. I do it for pleasure!" Sound a bit like a bad "B" movie? It's not. At it's heart "Ung Flukt" is about the unnatural corrupting influence that "civilization" has on human beings, especially the young, rudderless, and in Gerd's case, fatherless. Anders, having had the benefit of a stable family life, has direction and purpose and it is his idealism that provides the source of conflict between him and his parents. He believes that if he could remove Gerd from her hazardous environment, he could save her. Is he motivated by love? Moral duty? A sense of righteousness? Gerd is in love with Anders but is frightened that he'll turn out like her other lovers, "You'll just use me while it's fun." In a bold move, Anders takes Gerd by surprise on a long trip into the forest, first by car and then by foot, to a cabin that he had visited with his Father. At first this environment seems harsh and unforgiving, "Is there no end to this forest of yours?" Gerd complains while finally getting rid of her cumbersome city shoes. "Soon you'll get used to it and will no longer need clothes." Soon the two lovers are running through the forest barefoot, swimming naked in the lake, happy and carefree under the warm sun. But clouds will eventually turn the sky gray and Gerd, like an addict, will be torn between the Good healthy life and a craving for the pleasures and conveniences of the city. Soon their parents will come looking for them. Soon a mysterious and dangerous stranger will enter their orbit and Anders will undergo a "rite of passage" for his manhood with Gerd hanging in the balance. A beautifully photographed and extremely well paced story that showcases the talents of a phenomenal actress, even at such an early stage in her career. Liv Ullmann delivers a positively scintillating and sexy performance as Gerd, one that would be emulated a year later, wittingly or unwittingly, by Lee Remick in Elia Kazan's "Wild River" in which Nature would also play a crucial role.