We are fortunate that this wonderful vision of the young Ingrid Bergman, aged 25, is available with English subtitles. Her shimmering beauty and shining presence, together with her brilliant acting abilities, make this film a treasure. This was the last film she ever made in Sweden, and in Swedish. After that she migrated, like one of those rare birds who flies for thousands of miles to feed or to breed, to America, where she effortlessly became a Hollywood star. For those who like to know such things, I should record that the original Swedish title of this film is JUININATTEN. It was directed by the very talented Per Lindberg, who died only four years later at the age of 53, thus cutting short a promising career. There is no biographical imformation about him on IMDb apart from his dates of birth and death (both in Stockholm) and his screen credits. This one has been preserved because Ingrid Bergman is in it. His sister Stina Bergman (unknown whether her husband Hjalmar Bergman was related to Ingrid Bergman, but in any case he had died young in 1931) wrote the screenplay for the Swedish film A WOMAN'S FACE (1938), in which Ingrid Bergman played the lead role. Hence it is certain that the star and director of JUNE NIGHT knew each other very well long before they worked together. The film is based on a novel by Tora Norström-Bonnier (1895-1991), authoress of many novels as well as being the Swedish translator of E. M. Forster and Eugène Ionesco, among others. Ingrid Bergman in this film plays a lonely educated young woman, whose parents are dead and who has no family, from an obscure country town who becomes involved with a sailor. He becomes obsessed by her and when he fears she is leaving him, he intends to commit suicide in front of her but changes his mind at the last minute and shoots her instead. The bullet is one inch from her heart and she is saved in an operation by a miracle and has a long recovery. Meanwhile the affair has been exposed in the Stockholm press and has caused a local scandal, so she leaves her home town which she hates anyway and moves to Stockholm under an assumed name. She shares a flat with two other young women. Because her health is in permanent danger and she needs to be monitored, she visits a doctor sometimes. A young and handsome doctor falls in love with her and pursues her. But the sailor who shot her is released early from prison and finds her in Stockholm, causing a scene and plenty of stress, which gives her a heart attack. And then a journalist recognises her and wishes to expose her publicly. I shall not reveal the ending to this melodrama. The film should be seen by anyone interested in Ingrid Bergman, because she is simply irresistible.
Review of June Night
