NATTLEK
(“Night Games”)
Production: Sweden, 1966
Director: Mai Zetterling
Category: Sex Mania
When first shown at the 1966 Venice Film Festival, Nattlek was screened behind closed doors to the judges only, as it was deemed the most outrageous film ever made (a verdict clearly indicative of the judges’ ignorance). It was finally released in 1969, when it seemed a little less shocking. The film concerns a disturbed young man who decides to return with his fiancee to the oppressive castle where he grew up, apparently in an effort to rid himself of the neuroses caused by his domineering mother (played by Ingrid Thulin) and insane grand-aunt. There are grotesque orgy scenes, incest and perversion, and also a flashback showing the man, as a boy, being caught masturbating by his mother. The film was described by the New York Times as “a chamber of horrors”, and Shirley Temple resigned as a festival judge when it was screened in San Francisco.
Posted by Captain Nightshade