Ingmar Bergman’s film became notorious for a nude scene that helped give rise to the popular idea in the late-1950s of Sweden as a land of loose morals, but the film, loosely adapted from a novel by Per Anders Fogelström, is actually quite conventional in its narrative. 

A young couple, Monika and Harry, reject their stifling home lives and sail away for an idyllic summer together. On their return to the city, with Monika now pregnant, they settle down with Harry getting a job to support the new family. The final act would not have been out of place in a novel by Zola. Frustrated by her role as a young mother, Monika strays. The couple part and she leaves Harry to raise the child.

What that synopsis leaves out is the terrific vitality of Monika, played by Harriet Andersson, a female rebel without a cause (the James Dean film of that name would come out 2 years later) whose frankness and disgust for conventional pieties has echoed down the years. 

Summer with Monika proved hugely influential on both the French and British New Waves, notably Francois Truffaut’s 400 Blows and Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless but also Tony Richardson’s 1961 film of Shelagh Delaney’s A Taste of Honey. As such, it is in many ways a precursor of 1960s realism.

“While the end of the film ostensibly suggests acceptance of the status quo, we are left unable to forget the precious transience and vital potential of Harry and Monika’s brief escape.” Laura Hubner – The Criterion Collection.

“In her feature debut, Andersson delivers a raw performance but doesn’t move entirely gracefully. Yet that’s part of Monika’s appeal, as both the actress and character haven’t yet refined themselves as mature women. … Like so many women or men her age, she hasn’t quite found her place in the world, or realized the long-term effects of her behavior.” Q.V. Hough – rogerebert.com.