The Wings (film)

Not to be confused with Wings (1927 film).

The Wings
Nils Asther in the film
Directed byMauritz Stiller
Written byAxel Esbensen
Mauritz Stiller
Based on1902 novel Mikaël
by Carl Theodor Dreyer
StarringNils Asther
Egil Eide
Lars Hanson
Lili Bech
Julius Hälsig
CinematographyJulius Jaenzon
Distributed bySvenska Biografteatern
Release date
  • 1916 (1916)
Running time
69 minutes
CountrySweden
LanguageSilent (Swedish intertitles)

The Wings (Swedish: Vingarne) is a 1916 Swedish silent film directed by Mauritz Stiller, starring Nils Asther, Egil Eide, Lars Hanson, Lili Bech, and Julius Hälsig. It was based on Herman Bang's 1902 novel Mikaël, which was the same source Carl Theodor Dreyer used for his 1924 film Michael.[1]

It has been widely documented as the first known feature with homosexual content.[2][3][4][5] It is also notable for its innovative use of a framing story and telling the plot primarily through the use of flashbacks.

Plot

The story is that of a conniving countess, Lucia De Zamikow, coming between a gay sculptor, Claude Zoret, and his bisexual model and lover, Mikaël. Zoret is a renowned artist who is inspired by a young man he meets in the Scandinavian woods and insists on making a naked sculpture of him. The young man, Mikaël agrees and becomes his apprentice.

Zoret arranges to adopt him, and at the same time Mikaël naivety leads him into a dangerous relationship with Lucia, a patron of Zorets. Zoret feels betrayed by Mikaël and refuses to give him money to fulfill Lucia's hedonistic demands, so Mikaël is forced to sell a copy of the sculpture which Zoret gave him as a gift. Zoret is despondent and dies during a violent storm before his original statue of the naked Mikaël.

Cast

Egil Eide
Lars Hanson
  • Egil Eide as Claude Zoret
  • Lars Hanson as Eugène Mikaël
  • Lili Beck as Lucia De Zamikow
  • Albin Lavén as Charles Schwitt
  • Thure Holm as Läkaren
  • Julius Halsig as Artist friend of Zoret
  • Bertial Junggren as Artist friend of Zoret
  • Alfred Lundberg as Artist friend of Zoret
  • Nils Asther as a young actor in the film's frame story
  • Julius Jaenzon as himself (the cinematographer)
  • Mauritz Stiller as himself (the director)
  • Axel Exbensen as himself (the screenwriter)

Background

Mauritz Stiller
Herman Bang

All of the principal personnel involved with the film were gay, including the author Herman Bang, whose book the film was based on, the director Mauritz Stiller,[a] and the screenwriter Axel Esbensen.[2][7] Although homosexuality was illegal in Sweden in 1916, both the book and the film are "surprisingly frank in their portrayal of the homoeroticism central to the plot.[7]

Release

The film was released in Sweden in 1916.[2] In 2022, the film was prominently featured in the documentary, "Prejudice and Pride", which takes a deep look at queer and trans films from Sweden.[8]

Preservation status

On 22 September 1941, a fire in the archives of Svenski Filmindustri near Stockholm, destroyed the film's negatives and other material related to the film.[2][3] However, Swedish film historian Gösta Werner was able to piece together the film's narrative using some frame prints and a script housed at the Library of Congress.[2][9] Then in 1987, a copy of the main portion of the film came up for auction in Norway, so using the prints from the film and the script, along with the main portion of the film, a version of the film was produced, and premiered at the Swedish Film Institute in 1987.[2]

Reception

Film critic Kevin Thomas wrote "a scholarly dispute continues over whether Stiller's film invokes the legend of Ganymede or Icarus; the first interpretation would imply a gay theme, the second, a straight one; it is not hard to see homosexual implications in this film; those who have seen the work of Stiller, will not be surprised at the subtlety and sophistication of this landmark work."[10] Don Willis of Film Quarterly noted "the 1916 film exemplifies early modernist narrative techniques, which includes running commentary by its director, Mauritz Stiller, the lead actor, Nils Asther, and the cameraman, who directly address the camera."[11]

Critic Peter Rist said that while "this film is noted for its artistic contribution, it does not match the high standards of his later works.[12] Judy Stone wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle that "the Zoret-Mikaël story, a film-within-a-film, is framed by shots of the director and the real actors playing themselves, preparing for and reacting to the film; when the movie was released in Sweden, the audiences were reportedly outraged that Stiller had made the elderly Zoret look like August Strindberg, the great Swedish playwright."[5]

British film critic Richard Dyer opined "the fascination of Vingarne is that it manages to be at once blatant and covert; this might be due to a conscious strategy, since homosexuality was illegal and morally disapproved of; yet it is just as plausible that the film was simply made out of the habits of gay survival, out of the knowledge of how to tread the line between openness and evasion."[2] Author Tommy Gustafsson points out that the film "does not belong to the category of films that openly show homosexuality; instead, the film presents a subtle picture, with secret codes, dual motifs and allusions."[13]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ According to British film historian Richard Dyer, not only was Stiller gay, but a "flamboyant man about town; in high Stockholm society, he came to be regarded as the smartest man in town, with dozens of bespoke suits, four fur coats and fingers awash with diamond rings."[2] Stiller is best known as the director who made Greta Garbo a star when he cast her in his 1924 film The Atonement of Gosta Berling.[6]

References

  1. ^ Bryant, Wayne (2001). "Stereotyping Bisexual Men in Film". Journal of Bisexuality. 1 (2–3): 213. doi:10.1300/J159v01n02_09. ISSN 1529-9716. LCCN 00215112. OCLC 43972964.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Dyer, Richard (2013). "Sweden 1916 Taking Off". Now You See It. Taylor & Francis. pp. 8–12. ISBN 978-1-136-40744-4.
  3. ^ a b Iversen, Gunnar (1 October 2023). "The Life and Afterlife of Swedish Biograph: From Commercial Circulation to Archival Practices". Scandinavian Studies. 95 (3): 424–428.
  4. ^ D'Entremont, Jim (December 2005). "Gay Sweden". The Guide. Vol. 25, no. 12. p. 14.
  5. ^ a b Stone, Judy (23 June 1988). "Silent Sexuality in '1st Gay Film'". Daily Datebook. San Francisco Chronicle. p. E5.
  6. ^ King, Susan (21 April 2002). "Movies: The Other Golden Ages on Screen: New series honor Swedish director Mauritz Stiller and the influential Cahiers du Cinema critic-filmmakers". Los Angeles Times. p. F16.
  7. ^ a b Drushel, Bruce (1 June 2016). "The Film's the Thing". Film International. 14 (2): 113. doi:10.1386/fiin.14.2.112_1.
  8. ^ Assunção, Muri (1 June 2023). "It's time to just say gay, n.y.ers; Joyous month filled with protest and defiance features movies, art, baseball and much more". New York Daily News. p. C18.
  9. ^ Engberg, Marguerite . (March 1992). "Mauritz Stiller, ett livsöde". Bulletin FIAF (44): 39–40.
  10. ^ Thomas, Kevin (4 July 1988). "Gay, Lesbian Film Festival: Wider Range". Los Angeles Times. p. 3.
  11. ^ Willis, Don (Summer 1977). "The Ambiguous Image: Narrative Style in Modern European Cinema". Film Quarterly. 30 (4): 50–52. doi:10.2307/1211588. JSTOR 1211588.
  12. ^ Rist, Peter (January 2017). "The Best of 1916". Offscreen. Vol. 21, no. 1. Montreal. p. 1. ISSN 1712-9559.
  13. ^ Gustafsson, Tommy (2014). "Sexuality and Popularity". Masculinity in the Golden Age of Swedish Cinema: A Cultural Analysis of 1920s Films. McFarland & Company. p. 138. ISBN 978-1-4766-1712-1.

Further reading

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