Unmarried Mothers

2450. UNMARRIED MOTHERS (1955-Sweden). Here is a discerning drama which is sometimes heartwarming and sometimes heartbreaking. It opens on the Midsummer Night holiday, when young people all over Sweden attend dances and partake in romantic encounters. Occasionally this casual fun has serious consequences. Such is the fate of Irene Lindblad. She is a secretary working in a Stockholm office far from her family and home. During Midsummer Night she meets a handsome young doctor and they fall in love. Due to unavoidable difficulties the couple is separated. Six weeks later Irene learns she is pregnant with twins. What follows is an insightful narrative offering a realistic view of Irene’s experiences as an unwed mother. The scenario follows her from her office to the hospital to the “Maternity Home For Unmarried Mothers.” Along the way she encounters other young women who share their stories of husbandless pregnancies. Some have been tricked into affairs with irresponsible or cruel men. Others have for one reason or another been left temporarily or abandoned completely by their lovers. The result is a story which is loaded with genuine feeling as well as being remarkably contemporary in its depiction of the travails of single motherhood. In Swedish with English subtitles. 90 minutes. Drama