''Lucie'' is a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

drama film from 1979 directed by

Jan Erik Düring Jan Erik Düring (15 June 1926 – 13 March 2014) was a Norwegian film director. He was born in Bærum. Among his films are ''Hjelp - vi får leilighet!'' (1965), ''Lucie Lucie is the French and Czech form of the female name Lucia. Notabl ...

. It stars

Inger Lise Rypdal Inger Lise Rypdal (born 14 December 1949 in Lena, Norway) is a Norwegian singer and actress in many different genres: pop, rock, theater, film, and musical. She is the sister of singer Maj Britt Andersen and was married (1969–1985) to guitaris ...

Gösta Ekman Hans Gösta Gustaf Ekman (; 28 July 1939 – 1 April 2017) was a Swedish actor, comedian, and director. Career Ekman was born in Stockholm, Sweden, and was the son of the director Hasse Ekman and Agneta (née Wrangel). Ekman represented t ...

Kari Simonsen Kari Simonsen (born 5 June 1937) is a Norwegian actress. She made her professional stage debut at Folketeatret in 1959. She was appointed at Oslo Nye Teater from 1960 to 1972, and at Nationaltheatret from 1974. She has also played for radio and ...

, and Nils Sletta. The film is based on

Amalie Skram Amalie Skram (22 August 1846 – 15 March 1905) was a Norwegian author and feminist who gave voice to a woman's point of view with her naturalist writing. In Norway, she is frequently considered the most important female writer of the Modern Bre ...

's novel ''Lucie'', which dealt with the conditions and limitations of women at the end of the 19th century in Norway.

Plot

In the second half of the 19th century, Kristiania (now Oslo) offered a varied entertainment life. There were a number of variety theaters, and the city also had its own brothel district. Prostitution was legal, and it was considered justified for a woman to obtain financial and other benefits from her body and physical advantages. The beautiful variety theater actress Lucie (played by

) is certainly aware of this fact. She has made the acquaintance of the lawyer Gerner (

), a fine and educated gentleman in the city. This all develops into an erotic relationship, and Lucie knows how to play on Gerner's jealousy and masculine pride. She eventually manages to marry into good society, but it proves difficult to be accepted without the right class background. Her life does not turn out as she expected and, after a pregnancy in which the relationship with her husband is constantly deteriorating, she dies in childbirth.

Reception

The film received a mixed reception from both ''

Aftenposten ( in the masthead; ; Norwegian for "The Evening Post") is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen) and estimated 1.2 million ...

'''s and ''

Dagbladet ''Dagbladet'' (lit.: ''The Daily Magazine'') is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally ''Dagbladet'' is considered the main liberal newsp ...

'''s reviewers. ''Aftenposten'''s Øyvind Thorsen wrote, among other things: "It is my opinion that the first half of the film is very stagnant; sometimes one gets a little depressed by boredom as well," but he concluded by writing: "A film to be depressed by, but fortunately first and foremost because of its tragic content." ''Dagbladet'''s Thor Ellingsen also expressed mixed enthusiasm and wrote, among other things: "I find Lucie significantly better than what advance statements have wanted it to be. In fact, I had thought it was much worse." But he also suggests that Rypdal's performance pulls the film down: "Rypdal's remarks often seem flat and 'modern' in an illusion-breaking way."

Cast

as Lucie *

as Gerner * Rut Tellefsen as Karen Reinertsen *

as Nilsa * Nils Sletta as Olsen *

Sigrid Huun Sigrid Huun (born July 25, 1952) is a Norwegian actress. She made her film debut in ''Himmel og helvete'' in 1969. Among her television performances, she is remembered for having performed in the comedy series ''Egentlig'' on NRK in the 1990s. Sh ...

as Henny *

Alf Nordvang Alf Nordvang (15 December 1931 – 11 June 2007) was a Norwegian actor and theatre director. He was born in Bærum. He made his stage debut at Det Norske Teatret in 1954, was hired at Falkbergets Teater in the same year and Rogaland Teater ...

as Dr. Mørk *

Unni Evjen Unni Evjen (August 3, 1943 – September 27, 2019) was a Norwegian actress. Evjen received her education at the National Academy of Theatre and made her debut at the Oslo New Theater in 1965 in Anne-Catharina Vestly's children's comedy ''Ut av ...

as Mrs. Mørk * Karin Helene Haugen as the housekeeper *

Siri Rom Siri Rom (March 17, 1918 – November 13, 2002) was a Norwegian actress. She was engaged for many years at the Norwegian Theater. Theater Rom debuted at the Falkberget Theater before she was employed at the Trøndelag Theater from 1940 to 1943 ...

as the midwife *

Arne Bang-Hansen Arne Bang-Hansen (September 8, 1911 – February 23, 1990) was a Norwegian actor that performed at the National Theater in Oslo for many years. Acting career Arne Bang-Hansen played a total of 155 roles at the National Theater, where he worked ...

as Brandt * Elisabeth Høye as a street prostitute * Peter Lindgren as the rapist *

Svein Tindberg Svein Randor Tindberg (born 25 June 1953) is a Norwegian actor. He was born in Oslo; the son of Snorre Tindberg and Inger Mogstad. He made his stage debut 13 years old at Det Norske Teatret in 1966, in the musical ''The King and I''. As an actor, ...

as Knut *

Ingeborg Cook Ingeborg Cook (born Alma Ingeborg Cook, May 13, 1915 – December 27, 2003) was a Norwegian actress and singer. Cook was born in Galveston, Texas, the daughter of Axel Brynjulf Christensen Cook (1886–1927) and Ingeborg Alma Cook (née Isaksen ...

References

External links

*
''Lucie''
at the

National Library of Norway The National Library of Norway ( no, Nasjonalbiblioteket) was established in 1989. Its principal task is "to preserve the past for the future". The library is located both in Oslo and in Mo i Rana. The building in Oslo was restored and reopened i ...

''Lucie''
at the

Swedish Film Database The Swedish Film Database ( sv, Svensk filmdatabas) is an Internet database about Swedish films, published by the Swedish Film Institute The Swedish Film Institute ( sv, Svenska Filminstitutet) was founded in 1963 to support and develop the S ...

1979 films Norwegian drama films 1970s Norwegian-language films 1979 drama films Films directed by Jan Erik Düring {{Norway-film-stub