''I, a Woman'' (original Danish: ''Jeg - en kvinde'') is a 1965

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

Danish-Swedish

erotic film Sexual content has been found in films since the early days of the industry, and the presentation of aspects of sexuality in film, especially human sexuality, has been controversial since the development of the medium. Films which display or sugges ...

whose break-through popularity helped initiate a wave of

sexploitation film A sexploitation film (or sex-exploitation film) is a class of independently produced, low-budget feature film that is generally associated with the 1960s and early 1970s, and that serves largely as a vehicle for the exhibition of non-explicit se ...

s into mainstream American theaters in the late 1960s, and inspired

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...

to write and direct his feature-length experimental film version ''

I, a Man ''I, a Man'' is a 1967 American erotic drama film written, directed and filmed by Andy Warhol. It debuted at the Hudson Theatre in New York City on August 25, 1967. The film depicts the main character, played by Tom Baker, in a series of sexual ...

''.

Background

Directed by

Mac Ahlberg Mac Ahlberg (12 June 1931 – 26 October 2012) was a Swedish film director and cinematographer. Biography In the years 1952–1954 he was married to Ulla Olofsson (1923–2009) and 1955–1961 to the actress Anna-Greta Bergman. He had a daughte ...

as his feature film debut, and written by

Peer Guldbrandsen Peer Guldbrandsen (22 October 1912 – 13 March 1996) was a Danish screenwriter, actor, film director and producer. He wrote for 42 films between 1940 and 1976. He also appeared in 23 films between 1939 and 1978. Selected filmography * '' ...

, the movie was based upon the best-selling 1961 novel ''Jeg - en kvinde'' by Agnethe Thomsen written under her pseudonym Siv Holm. The story starred Essy Persson, in her film debut, as a young nurse who breaks free of a repressed upbringing to explore sexual freedom. It also featured established Danish movie stars including

Preben Mahrt Preben Mahrt (28 July 1920 – 19 December 1989) was a Danish film actor born in Hellebæk, Denmark. He appeared in 68 films between 1941 and 1976. Filmography *''Tante Cramers testamente'' − 1941 *''Regnen holdt op'' − 1942 *''Når b ...

Jørgen Reenberg Jørgen Reenberg (8 November 1927 – 9 November 2023) was a Danish stage and film actor. He appeared in 30 films from 1948 onwards. He was the brother of Danish film director Annelise Reenberg. He made his film debut in ''Three Years Later'' ...

and

Tove Maës Tove Maës (30 April 1921 – 31 December 2010) was a Danish actress of stage, television and film best known for her starring roles in the series of " Morten Korch" films, in particular '' The Red Horses''. Maës was a three-time recipient of ...

. The American distribution rights were purchased by

Radley Metzger Radley Metzger (January 21, 1929 – March 31, 2017) was an American filmmaker and film distributor, most noted for popular artistic pornographic films, including '' Thérèse and Isabelle'' (1968), '' Camille 2000'' (1969), '' The Lickerish ...

who edited the movie to remove the flashbacks, added English titles and placed it into mainstream movie theaters. Metzger said it was "probably the first feminist erotic film released in the '60s and it pushed a button with every woman in America". By earning more than 4 million dollars in the United States, Metzger credited ''I, a Woman'' as the major catalyst for his subsequent success in making

pornographic film Pornographic films (pornos), erotic films, adult films, blue films, sexually explicit films, or 18+ films, are films that represent Human sexual activity, sexually WIKT:explicit, explicit subject matter in order to sexual arousal, arouse, fasci ...

s. Despite poor reviews by mainstream media, the film's box office success encouraged the development of the sexploitation film industry. According to an article in ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' magazine, ''I, a Woman'' "freed itself from the exploitation houses, it invaded suburbia and immediately struck paydirt"."Far Out (Long Island) Sex", ''Variety'', June 14, 1967, 13.

Plot

The young nurse Siv ( Essy Persson) is frustrated by the strict restraints of her religious parents (

and

Erik Hell Erik Hell (11 August 1911 – 11 March 1973) was a Swedish actor. Hell was born in Kalliokoski, Finland, to a Norwegian father and a Finnish mother. He moved to Sweden with his family in 1918 during the Finnish Civil War. He married the actre ...

) and her boring fiancé, Sven (Preben Kørning). At the hospital where she works, a married antiques dealer named Heinz Gersen (Preben Mahrt) flirts with Siv. Although she is warned that Gersen is a philandering playboy, Siv allows him to seduce her and they have an affair. Gersen tells Siv that he loves her and proposes to leave his wife for her. Having only just discovered a new world of sexual liberty, Siv rejects Gersen's proposal. She then breaks off her engagement with Sven, moves away from her parents and finds a nursing position in another city. Siv meets Lars, a sailor (Bengt Brunskog), and they begin a relationship. When Lars proposes marriage, Siv breaks up with him. Siv begins dating Doctor Dam (

) at the hospital where she works. Dam also falls in love with Siv, so she stops seeing him and decides that no single man will ever completely fulfill her own desires. Siv has a sexual encounter with a stranger named Eric (Frankie Steele) who Siv realizes perfectly matches her own promiscuity. Eric tells Siv that he won't see her anymore because he is afraid that she will fall in love with him.

Cast

* Essy Persson as Siv Esmuth *

as Heinz Gersen, an antique dealer *

as Dr. Dam *

as Siv's Mother *

as Siv's Father * Preben Kørning as Sven, Siv's fiance * Bengt Brunskog as Lars Thomsen, a sailor * Frankie Steel as Erik, the stranger * Ebba With as Head Nurse * Wandy Tworek as Violinist * Malene Schwartz as Siv's voice (Danish overdubbing) * Carl Ottosen as Lars' voice (Danish overdubbing)

Reception

AllMovie AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, television series, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was ...

'' wrote that as an "adult-oriented drama" and as "one of the first sexually-themed films from Sweden to find an audience (and wide release) in America", ''I, a Woman'' was "a surprise box office success" which led three years later to a sequel by the same filmmaker. When ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' reviewed the 1968 sequel ''Jeg - en kvinde 2'', they found it to be "dull and pointless", specially in comparison to the earlier film which was "sizzling, bad—and a resounding money-maker".

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

panned the film, offering that if a viewer chose to miss seeing one film in 1967, ''I, a Woman'' would be the one to miss, and by comparison, "all the other crummy movies I've had to sit through in this job weren't so bad". He bemoaned how publicity compared the film favorably to '' Dear John'', ''

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...

'', '' Casino Royale'' and even ''

Citizen Kane ''Citizen Kane'' is a 1941 American Drama (film and television), drama film directed by, produced by and starring Orson Welles and co-written by Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz. It was Welles's List of directorial debuts, first feature film. ...

'', writing it had "uninteresting camera work, mediocre performances and a mechanical plot", as well as very poor subtitles which destroyed the mood "every 10 minutes by throwing in something utterly vulgar, ill-timed or otherwise inappropriate". Ebert felt the film exhibited "the maturity of a 13-year-old cranking the handle on the penny-peepshow at a county fair". Contrarily, ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' praised Essy Persson in this, her debut role, and wrote that "the film's simple but stylish aesthetics are a real treat, even if they can't ultimately compensate for a disappointingly thin plot", and concluded "the film is most compelling when seen in light of the labored progress of feminist discourse; it's an artifact from a time when the notion of a woman taking charge of her sexual life was both risque and revolutionary".

Releases

Release titles include its original ''Jeg - en kvinde'' in Sweden and Denmark, ''Eu, Mulher'' in Brazil, ''Minä - nainen'' and ''Olen nainen'' in Finland, ''Moi, une femme'' in France, ''Erotismos'' in Greece, ''Io una donna'' in Italy, ''Soy una mujer'' in Mexico, ''Ik een Vrouw'' in Netherlands, ''Jeg - en kvinne'' in Norway, ''Jag - en kvinna'' in Sweden, ''Ja, Zena'' in

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, ''Ich eine Frau'' in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, and as ''I, a Woman'' in the United States. Under its original title ''Jeg - en kvinde'', the film had 1965 theatrical releases in Denmark on September 17, and in Sweden on November 8. In 1966 the film had re-release in Denmark on July 4, followed by August 12 in West Germany, and another re-release in Denmark on September 7. Also in 1966, the film had its American premiere on October 11 in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, and November 11 in Netherlands. In 1967, the film premiered on July 7 in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and again re-released in Denmark on August 9. In 1968 the film was released on January 11 in Norway, February 21 in France, and June 1 in Japan.

Sequels

Two sequels were produced: ''2 - I, A Woman, Part II'' (1968), and ''The Daughter: I, A Woman Part III'' (1970). as well as the Danish-Swedish sex comedy ''

I, a Lover ''I, a Lover'' (, ) is a 1966 Swedish-Danish comedy film directed by Börje Nyberg and starring Jørgen Ryg. Peter's wife Beatrice is abandoning him because he is impotent. She goes to Paris with Isac, her lover. Peter's friend Ole takes him ...

''. The film ''I, a Woman'' also inspired

to write and direct his feature-length experimental film version ''

''.

References

External links

''I, a Woman''
at the

Internet Movie Database IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

''Jeg - en kvinde''
at the

Swedish Film Database The Swedish Film Database () is an Internet database about Swedish films, published by the Swedish Film Institute The Swedish Film Institute () (SFI) is a statutory body located in Stockholm, Sweden that supports the Swedish film industry. Fo ...

''Jeg - en kvinde''
at the

Danish Film Institute The Danish Film Institute (; DFI) is the national Danish institution, agency responsible for supporting and encouraging film and cinema culture, and for conserving these in the national interest. It is the successor organisation to the Danish Fil ...

(in Danish) {{DEFAULTSORT:I, A Woman 1965 films Danish erotic drama films Swedish erotic drama films 1960s Danish-language films Danish black-and-white films Swedish black-and-white films 1960s feminist films 1960s erotic drama films 1965 drama films Films directed by Mac Ahlberg 1960s Swedish films