In 1943 Malmö, 15-year-old Stig is attracted to his teacher Viola, 22 years his senior, who, drawn to his youth and innocence, believes the lad is a God-sent relief from her miserable marriage to a drunken, unfaithful lout.
Acting
Lagercrantz walks the razor's edge between victim and predator.
Direction
Widerberg's unflinching gaze refuses easy moral answers.
Cinematography
Malmö bathed in golden-hour longing and creeping dread.
Director
Bo Widerberg
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Director Bo Widerberg cast his actual son Johan as Stig, making the uncomfortable father-son dynamic on set nearly as fraught as the film itself.
The Swedish title 'Lust och fägring stor' translates to 'Great Lust and Beauty'—a phrase from a 17th-century hymn about earthly temptation, which the church nearly protested.
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