Kungsleden - The King's Path
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This film which I saw in the early 60s has stayed vivid in my memory and popped up this morning: Kungsleden, aka The Royal Road, aka Obsession; aka My Love and I (UK); aka Luulin että halusit (Finland?); Gunnar Höglund, Director; Mathias Henrikson, Du (You); Maude Adelson, Leni Wodak.
A few images from it stayed fresh in my mind: Leni naked and laughing at him as he bumbles and clumsily tries to make love to her; when he tries to scale a mountain and fails, lying down in the snow; when he finally walks away from it leaving everything (in my mind at least) unresolved, except the landscape which remains so full of drama achieved with simple existence.
IMDB Plot Summary:
`The King's Mountain Path' is a long line for wandering, with unmanned sleeping accommodation cabins at appropriate distances. It is not without dangers, in particular when narrow and shallow but speedily running creeks must be crossed. When they were teenagers, a boy and girl wandered along this path, and had a sexual relation. They decided to meet again after exactly ten years, and at exactly this path. Both kept the promise. The movie alternates between both time periods. At the second period the boy (or man) finds the girl's name in the cabin register, and notices that she is three days ahead of him. In a later cabin she is only two, and then only one day ahead. And then he finds her - drowned in a creek. In another scene he said that she was the only one he ever liked. Because of the shock he gets paranoid ideas. In the next cabin he finds another wanderer going in the opposite direction, and accuses him of having murdered the girl. Then he continues his way. But when climbing a mountain he lays down halfway up, seemingly without any intention to go further. The other wanderer realises that he is (momentarily) mentally ill, and tries to help him down. But he makes a vigorous pull in the rope, with the result that the other wanderer falls down and dies. Max Scharnberg.
NYT Review - Obsession:
In this odd drama, a hiker reminisces while walking down a lonely mountain trail in Lapland. His reverie takes him back 10 years when he spent three days in this area with a Jewish refugee from a concentration camp. He remembers the tension between them. He remembers the way he raped her. He comes back to the present and discovers little signs that she is still around and may be nearby. He then finds her corpse in a stream. Suddenly he is filled with remorse, guilt, and a need for revenge. Eventually he finds her killer and in turn kills him. He is then seen walking away into a most uncertain future. Sandra Brennan.
NYT Review - Kungsleden
In this brutal crime drama, "You" (Mathias Henrikson) takes a nostalgic walk down the Royal Road, a popular hiking trail in northernmost Sweden. Ten years before, he and Leni (Maude Adelson) took a trip together down the same path. He and the young concentration camp survivor spent their first night together in a small cabin -- with hints at an impending romance. He rapes her on the third night, naturally causing Leni to end the relationship. Back in the present, "You" is feeling retrospective remorse for his actions but learns that Leni is a day's journey down the road. He finds her the next day, but she has been murdered and thrown into a creek. After burying her, he goes to the cabin he and Leni had shared together years before and finds evidence that her killer was there. "You" sets out to find her killer and avenge her death. Dan Pavlides.
The actual geography:
Northern Kungsleden (Abisko - Kvikkjokk)
Kungsleden
Ski report from Kungsleden, March-April 1997
Kungsleden - The King's Path
Maude Adelson: 13 May 1941, Gothenburg, Västra Götalands län, Sweden, 11 April 1977
1969 - Biprodukten (TV)
1967 - Åsa-Nisse i agentform, aka Åsa-Nisse As an Agent; farmer girl
1965 - Niklasons (TV)
1965 - Festivitetssalongen
1964 - Wild West Story; Beatrice
1964 - Kungsleden; Leni Wodak
1964 - Markisinnan (TV)
1964 - Kärlek utan strumpor (TV); Metta
1963 - Kärlekens och slumpens lek (TV); Silvia
1963 - Ett Drömspel (TV)
1963 - Prins hatt under jorden, aka Amarte mientras cae la nieve (Argentina); Lily
1963 - Topaze (TV); Ernestine Muche
1963 - Misantropen (TV); Eliante
1963 - Möblemang i ek (TV); Elsie
1962 - Raggargänget, aka Swedish Punks (USA), aka Raggarijengit (Finland); Kristina Kallgren
1962 - Kollektionen (TV)
1962 - Kvartetten som sprängdes (TV)
1961 - Stöten, aka Sombras de barro (Spain), aka Suuri keikka (Finland); Mona Hansson
1961 - "Nina, Nora, Nalle" (TV); Nalle
1960 - Tre önskningar
1957 - Sneznaja koroleva
Stöten (1961) .... Mona Hansson
NYT: Screen: 'Obsession,' Swedish Import:34th Street Has Movie of Madman's Memory
He finds the flashback to Nazi atrocities out of place - I do not, the callous young man just wants sex and I have no difficulty identifying this objectification with what the Nazis did to the Jews. And he says that 'You's passion is not developed - but that is part of the man's problem, he has no passion except the desperate frustration of someone who cannot connect - and this failure to connect is exactly what drives him mad.
Tags: Movie, Höglund, Wodak.
This film which I saw in the early 60s has stayed vivid in my memory and popped up this morning: Kungsleden, aka The Royal Road, aka Obsession; aka My Love and I (UK); aka Luulin että halusit (Finland?); Gunnar Höglund, Director; Mathias Henrikson, Du (You); Maude Adelson, Leni Wodak.
A few images from it stayed fresh in my mind: Leni naked and laughing at him as he bumbles and clumsily tries to make love to her; when he tries to scale a mountain and fails, lying down in the snow; when he finally walks away from it leaving everything (in my mind at least) unresolved, except the landscape which remains so full of drama achieved with simple existence.
IMDB Plot Summary:
`The King's Mountain Path' is a long line for wandering, with unmanned sleeping accommodation cabins at appropriate distances. It is not without dangers, in particular when narrow and shallow but speedily running creeks must be crossed. When they were teenagers, a boy and girl wandered along this path, and had a sexual relation. They decided to meet again after exactly ten years, and at exactly this path. Both kept the promise. The movie alternates between both time periods. At the second period the boy (or man) finds the girl's name in the cabin register, and notices that she is three days ahead of him. In a later cabin she is only two, and then only one day ahead. And then he finds her - drowned in a creek. In another scene he said that she was the only one he ever liked. Because of the shock he gets paranoid ideas. In the next cabin he finds another wanderer going in the opposite direction, and accuses him of having murdered the girl. Then he continues his way. But when climbing a mountain he lays down halfway up, seemingly without any intention to go further. The other wanderer realises that he is (momentarily) mentally ill, and tries to help him down. But he makes a vigorous pull in the rope, with the result that the other wanderer falls down and dies. Max Scharnberg.
NYT Review - Obsession:
In this odd drama, a hiker reminisces while walking down a lonely mountain trail in Lapland. His reverie takes him back 10 years when he spent three days in this area with a Jewish refugee from a concentration camp. He remembers the tension between them. He remembers the way he raped her. He comes back to the present and discovers little signs that she is still around and may be nearby. He then finds her corpse in a stream. Suddenly he is filled with remorse, guilt, and a need for revenge. Eventually he finds her killer and in turn kills him. He is then seen walking away into a most uncertain future. Sandra Brennan.
NYT Review - Kungsleden
In this brutal crime drama, "You" (Mathias Henrikson) takes a nostalgic walk down the Royal Road, a popular hiking trail in northernmost Sweden. Ten years before, he and Leni (Maude Adelson) took a trip together down the same path. He and the young concentration camp survivor spent their first night together in a small cabin -- with hints at an impending romance. He rapes her on the third night, naturally causing Leni to end the relationship. Back in the present, "You" is feeling retrospective remorse for his actions but learns that Leni is a day's journey down the road. He finds her the next day, but she has been murdered and thrown into a creek. After burying her, he goes to the cabin he and Leni had shared together years before and finds evidence that her killer was there. "You" sets out to find her killer and avenge her death. Dan Pavlides.
The actual geography:
Northern Kungsleden (Abisko - Kvikkjokk)
Kungsleden
Ski report from Kungsleden, March-April 1997
Kungsleden - The King's Path
Maude Adelson: 13 May 1941, Gothenburg, Västra Götalands län, Sweden, 11 April 19771969 - Biprodukten (TV)
1967 - Åsa-Nisse i agentform, aka Åsa-Nisse As an Agent; farmer girl
1965 - Niklasons (TV)
1965 - Festivitetssalongen
1964 - Wild West Story; Beatrice
1964 - Kungsleden; Leni Wodak
1964 - Markisinnan (TV)
1964 - Kärlek utan strumpor (TV); Metta
1963 - Kärlekens och slumpens lek (TV); Silvia
1963 - Ett Drömspel (TV)
1963 - Prins hatt under jorden, aka Amarte mientras cae la nieve (Argentina); Lily
1963 - Topaze (TV); Ernestine Muche
1963 - Misantropen (TV); Eliante
1963 - Möblemang i ek (TV); Elsie
1962 - Raggargänget, aka Swedish Punks (USA), aka Raggarijengit (Finland); Kristina Kallgren1962 - Kollektionen (TV)
1962 - Kvartetten som sprängdes (TV)
1961 - Stöten, aka Sombras de barro (Spain), aka Suuri keikka (Finland); Mona Hansson
1961 - "Nina, Nora, Nalle" (TV); Nalle
1960 - Tre önskningar
1957 - Sneznaja koroleva
Stöten (1961) .... Mona Hansson
NYT: Screen: 'Obsession,' Swedish Import:34th Street Has Movie of Madman's Memory
He finds the flashback to Nazi atrocities out of place - I do not, the callous young man just wants sex and I have no difficulty identifying this objectification with what the Nazis did to the Jews. And he says that 'You's passion is not developed - but that is part of the man's problem, he has no passion except the desperate frustration of someone who cannot connect - and this failure to connect is exactly what drives him mad.
Tags: Movie, Höglund, Wodak.
