Je suis curieuse

"Jag är nyfiken – Yellow" is a lot of fun. Like at least one other reviewer, I was, on numerous occasions, laughing out loud. Yellow is energetic, playful, self-aware, explorative. Don't expect Bergman here. This movie is about a youth in the early- to mid-60s in Sweden and about the issues, read *contradictions*, that the nation and the world were facing. At times Yellow appears to be an earnest social-political documentary, with Lena, the main character, and others interviewing both common people and politicians (e.g. Olaf Palme at home). At other times, Yellow seems to parody this kind of documentary. All the while, Yellow acts as a personal documentary exploring Lena's life - her home life, her loves, her political views, her view of herself. She is a complete person – complex, flawed, contradictory, happy, sad, curious. And placed over all of this is the wonderful additional dimension of the director, Sjöman, and his crew documenting themselves documenting Lena. It is this that, for me, really gives Yellow wings. Not only do they suddenly appear at some very funny times and in some funny ways, reminding the viewer that this is fiction and artifice, but their presence is itself another layer of the film; they are filming themselves filming themselves. I am reminded of a Bjork music video with this same quality – a music video about the making of a music video, ad infinitum, with each iteration getting weirder and more cartoonish. I think Sjöman may have had something similar in mind. While "Jag är nyfiken – Yellow" may not be everyone's cup of tea, it is certainly intelligent, witty, refreshing, ebullient, and authentic.

I grew up at a time when we were all experiencing things for the first time. We had heard about this film for a while and thought it would be interesting to see it. We were a mixed group and we guys were a little concerned about how the girls would react. As it turns out, the movie was more intellectually challenging than we had anticipated. We had a nice discussion at a coffee house afterwards. We were a little bit of an artsy bunch anyway. The nudity and sex weren't what we talked about (although it was a bit of an elephant in the room). We were trying to get a handle on what this girl was hoping for in life; what did she want from the world. I'm hoping to see this again soon and perhaps I'll do a little specific revision on the film. It certainly was news in the day. I found it bleak and rather depressing.

Fascinating I approached I Am Curious (Yellow) and it's companion piece with great trepidation. I'd read numerous reports on its widely touted controversy and explicit sex. What I got wasn't this, but a thoroughly thought provoking and engaging cinema experience unlike any other. I sincerely believe that the majority of the commenter who felt the film was `lame' or `boring' approached the film as if it were pornography. Perhaps this is pornography, assuming pornography is something intended to titillate the senses, but it is intentionally un-erotic. Lena, the protagonist, throws her all into her performance giving it a realistic and humanity that is simply convincing and enduring. Her breasts may be saggy, her nipples unusually large, her thighs fat, and her face, chubby. But by the end of the film, the audience comes to identify with her, and accept her faults as human. This touch gives her even more believability out necessity. Had the director cast a Briget Bardot bombshell the effect would have been nullified. I cannot more highly recommend this thought provoking piece. Be prepared to invest much thought in this deliberately paced film. The patient and unassuming viewer will be thoroughly rewarded in ways most other films could dream.

This movie caused a great sensation in 1969 because it was considered pornographic. The movie was not allowed to be shown in America. Finally, after a highly publicized court battle, the courts allowed the movie to appear and everybody went to see the movie. The movie was banned in many countries, not only in America, because is showed a man and a woman having sexual intercourse, the first time ever in a movie. However, in the actual scene, they climb a tree in a public park and have intercourse fully clothed in the branches of the tree. It takes the reader's imagination to understand what they are really doing. The content is so mild by today's standards that the movie is largely forgotten. However, it was because of the court precedent set by "I Am Curious (Yellow)" that we are allowed to see almost everything today. Sam Sloan

"I Am Curious (Yellow)" was the first "mainstream" movie in the United States to show sexual intercourse. Although the film was made in Sweden, the controversy that it ignited here reveals a lot about how we Americans think and act about sex.

The film itself is no masterpiece, but is mildly entertaining. The plot, as such is, centers around Lena, a young woman harboring bad feelings toward the men who have slept with her. She has a dream in which she ties her first 23 men, all of whom were using her only for their own orgasm, to a large tree and dynamites them. Gee, that sounds more like an American movie of today.

The other dimension of the plot is kind of a documentary about the Swedish policy of not waging overt war against any country who occupies them. Remember, this was during the cold war, and even though Sweden has been officially neutral for many years, there was a country nearby that was too big to ignore or trust. In the unlikely even of occupation, Swedish citizens were urged to wage "passive resistance" in the form of fraternization, work slowdown. and sabotage. The "Yellow" in the title comes from the Swedish flag, along with its sequel "I am Curious (Blue)."

It was very hip for young people to see this movie. Although it was banned in many locations, many baby boomers traveled someplace else to see the movie. Ah, the forbidden fruit! After reviewing "I am Curious (Yellow)" at least five times, a committee of local civic and religious leaders decided it had no redeeming social qualities and banned it in my native Pittsburgh. It just happened that I had a trip to L.A. that summer and a paid premium price to see this otherwise undistinguished film. And most college students, including myself, were not flush with extra cash.

Filmed in black and white in Swedish with English subtitles, it was just a bit hard to keep up with what was going on. But then again, you really couldn't think of this surrealistic story in a linear way.

The movie did offer some very entertaining diversions, including the opening scene where Lena and her wealthy sponsor attend a reading of "Babi Yar" by Yevtushenko. There was even a cameo of Dr. Martin Luther King. Lena and one boyfriend also had sex in public places -- it probably would have been meaningful if you knew Stockholm. To be very honest, most of the sex scenes were funny rather than erotic, whether or not that was intended.

This firm broke the taboo of showing sex in America, for better or worse. Many American movies in subsequent years have shown sex. Just as "The Dirty Dozen" broke the taboo against four-letter words in mainstream U.S. films. Now you hear language, in movies, even on TV and especially the radio, that would have offended "polite" people a generation ago. I guess the viewer must decide whether that is progress.

I suspect the makers of this film meant it to be surrealistic, not to be taken totally seriously, sort of like "Candy," another film of that era, or "Ally McBeal" in modern times.