'Four Times Love' and the making of the Nordic welfare state



: Laine K

Publisher: INTELLECT LTD

: 2019

: Journal of Scandinavian Cinema

: JOURNAL OF SCANDINAVIAN CINEMA

: J SCAND CINE

: 9

: 2

: 157

: 173

: 17

: 2042-7891

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/jsca.9.2.157_1


This article focuses on 'Four Times Love' (Faustman and Jacobsen, 1951), the first feature film produced by companies from four Nordic countries. As a transauthoral omnibus film, credited to two directors and several independently working scriptwriters, 'Four Times Love' has a reputation as an incoherent film. Indeed, the project started with only a relatively vague idea of a Swedish frame story and one protagonist connecting three episodes that take place in Finland, Denmark and Norway. As the script evolved, however, unifying themes central to the Nordic welfare state - concerning, for example, social equality and political neutrality - seem to have gained ground. The aim of this article is to read this film as a manifestation of such complementary ideas and ideals surrounding the then (re-)emerging Nordic welfare state system.



Last updated on 2024-26-11 at 19:59