SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Wyatt There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Martin Teller I had high hopes for this, featuring a trio of Bergman's greatest actresses (Bibi Andersson, Harriet Andersson, Gunnel Lindblom) in the leads and a pair of his greatest actors (Gunnar Bjornstrand, Erland Josephson) in supporting roles. Unfortunately, Mai Zetterling (whose LOVING COUPLES I somewhat enjoyed) goes way over-the-top with the experimental flourishes. The story involves a production of Aristophanes' classic sex satire "Lysistrata", with the play, reality, and fantasy bleeding into each other in a series of obvious juxtapositions, half-baked metaphors and heavy-handed social commentary. Subtlety is not to be found here, and the film's divebomb approach to the battle of the sexes is often grating and tedious. These actors are usually a joy to watch, and they give it their all, but they just can't overcome the material, which comes off as another naive product of 60's progressiveness. The heart's in the right place, but the execution is too irritating. Nice photography and a strong cast aren't enough.

nickrogers1969 This has become my favourite Swedish film. I've seen i t many times. At first I thought it would be gloomy and depressing in a Bergman way. It wasn't. It's a funny, spirited and inventive film.It's nice to see that even swedes were caught up in the sixties and felt the charge of new ways of thinking and being. New ideas about social behavior, youth and womens place in society were taken up in "the Girls". It's refreshingly shown and not preachy. There's a lot of humour in it and the men get to say their opinions about women too so it's not one-sided.Some reviewers here have commented on it as being dated. It is a product of it's time but some of the subjects it takes up are timeless. How much should a woman have to compromise with the male point of view? I think this is still a touchy subject. The film was controversial when it was released. It's not a traditional movie with a straight plot so some people might find it too unconventional. But, there are three great performances by some of the best Swedish actresses ever: Bibi Andersson, Harriet Andersson and Gunnel Lindblom who are all so delightfully energetic, lively and beautiful. They show different sides being a woman.The film is very much a 1968 film but it's worth seeing for the great black and white photography, to see Sweden in the sixties, for the actors and for the imaginative direction by Mai Zetterling. I love it!

peter-rinaldi I was prompted to write a little bit about this film because i think the other review on this page is absolutely ridiculous. And, as this is a rather obscure film, i didn't want that to be the only word on this great film.I just want to say that from the way this film tells it's story right on through the way it is performed and on to what it ultimately says not only HOLDS UP through time, it is most definitely relevant in today's gender climate. I was absolutely blown away by the ballsy film-making and the fearless way in which it presents its ideas. Very much ahead of it's time.Everyone should see this film, especially men. and of all men, especially men who think and write like the other reviewer on this page. SEE THIS MOVIE!

nycritic Put together five of Ingmar Bergman's actors of choice -- Bibi Andersson, Gunnel Lindstrom, Harriet Andersson, Erland Josephson, and Gunnar Bjornstrand, and you would think this would be a more powerful, meditating feature tackling the topic of feminism as filtered through the play "Lysistrata", channeled through the eyes of its three female leads. Mai Zetterling's movie THE GIRLS is an oddity within itself. Too obscure at times, too serious for its own good, it dissolves into a series of conversations each of its three leads have within themselves and how the play seems to mirror their own lives, as well as their own growing dissatisfaction with the way things are in relation to women's position in society. Where the story takes its cue is in welding both the current times (1968) into a play that takes place thousands of years ago, and making us, the audience, clearly understand that attitudes towards women continue to be the same even now. From the eye of someone coming into this movie nearly forty years after its release, things have changed quite a bit -- the story is automatically dated --, but it would be an interesting debate to see just how far women have come since the rise of feminism in the early Seventies. On this note, THE GIRLS is worth seeking out -- not only because of its three strong female characters, all of them uniformly brilliant in their different takes of women coming to terms with who they are. On a minus, however, are the fantasy sequences, filmed in a bleached black and white which become almost impossible to assimilate because of the lack of any depth... it would have been best to make it a Bunuelian experience and leave the viewer wondering what was real or not. Even so, for those who appreciate Swedish cinema, this is lighter fare than Bergman, and less introspective.