Kvinnodröm

KVINNODRÖM tells of the dreams of two very different women. Susanne Frank (Eva Dahlbeck), a seemingly sober-minded head of a Stockholm fashion studio, is obsessed with her love for a married man from Gothenburg with whom she had broken up seven months earlier. Her young photo model Doris (Harriet Andersson) dreams only of clothes, career and luxury. After the shoot in Stockholm, Susanne decides to continue their work in Gothenburg on the following day. Bergman uses the train ride to Gothenburg to illustrate the inner feelings of the figures. Susanne stares at the door of the railway car and thinks of suicide. Doris blithely falls asleep. In Gothenburg Doris is approached by wealthy Consul Sönderby (Gunnar Björnstrand) as she is admiring a precious gown in a shop window. He gives her the gown and several other things as a present. Doris is so delighted she completely forgets her fashion shoot. Meanwhile Susanne persuades her beloved Henrik Lobelius (Ulf Palme) to come to her hotel room; the situation escalates when Henrik’s wife arrives.

In both stories bitter truths are spoken with harsh, but muted words. Susanne and Doris return to Stockholm with fewer illusions, and somehow reconciled with their lives.