La Chair et le Démon

I should be darned! How does this moving have an average of 6.5? I thought it was magnificent. Oh well. Take care out there.

"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.

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 !!!

The Wayward Girl ("Ung flukt" in original Norwegian) gets most recognition for being Liv Ullmanns first feature film. (She had her debut in an uncredited role in "Fools in the mountains" by the same director, Edith Carlmar. She probably saw somthing in this young girl, and maybe the same Ingmar Bergman did later as his muse and later wife.

Edith Carlmar was Norways first big female director and this is her tenth and last directoral work of feature films which considered great Norwegian classics. So is this, which is based upon the novel "The sought after is 18 years old" ("Ettersøkte er 28 år") by Nils Johan Rud, released the year before this movie was released. Edith Carlmars husband and film producer Otto Carlmar made the script.

Anders is trying to save his fellow teenager girlfriend Gerd from her wayward life with a nagging mother and the child protection service. Anders is a proper boy with high marks in school. He is under her spell, being in love. His parents are of course all against it. So the flee away, and finds a left cabin in the woods where they hide. But they are discovered by a mysterious man, who will test their bonds (played by renown actor Rolf Søder).

Atle Merton plays wel, so does of course Rolf Søder, and the movie was a start for a great acting career for Ullmann, who later was nominated for two Oscars, and received a honorary Oscar in 2022.

It's an interesting and well played story filmed in 1.37:1 and black and white. The story keeps interest and this movie is a great end to and good directorial career for Edith Carlmar, which received a honorary Amanda award in 1994 for her achievements in film.

This movie is made available in 2023 when it was released on interregional (region-free) Blu-Ray Disk by Norwegian Film Classics as the fifth release in a new series with classics, NFK0011, with subtitles in English, and is supposed to be held in stock for film lovers.