Notorious in its time for its graphic depiction of nudity and sensuality, SUMMER WITH MONIKA examines the discord between generations by focusing on a young couple in love who leave the city to escape from the adult pressures of society, only to be forced to return for food, money, and a depressing city life. In the role of Monika, Bergman cast the lovely Harriet Andersson, who became a Bergman regular (she also appears in CRIES AND WHISPERS). In one exceptional scene that captures so much of Bergman’s distinctive style, Andersson breaks the fourth wall of fiction and directly addresses the viewer with a heartbreaking look. According to the young Jean-Luc Godard of 1958, SUMMER WITH MONIKA “is the most original film of the most original of directors. It is to the cinema today what Birth of a Nation is to the classical cinema.” English sub-titles.