'Four Times Love' and the making of the Nordic welfare state. Issue 2 (1st June 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Laine, Kimmo
• Is Part Of: Journal of Scandinavian cinema. Volume 9:Issue 2(2019)
• Page Start: 157
• Page End: 173
• Publication Date: 2019-06-01
• Subjects: Motion pictures -- Scandinavia -- Periodicals; 791.43094805
• DOI: 10.1386/jsca.9.2.157_1
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2042-7891

Abstract

This article focuses on 'Four Times Love' (Faustman and Jacobsen, 1951), the first feature film produced by companies from four Nordic countries. As a transauthoral omnibus film, credited to two directors and several independently working scriptwriters, 'Four Times Love' has a reputation as an incoherent film. Indeed, the project started with only a relatively vague idea of a Swedish frame story and one protagonist connecting three episodes that take place in Finland, Denmark and Norway. As the script evolved, however, unifying themes central to the Nordic welfare state ‐ concerning, for example, social equality and political neutrality ‐ seem to have gained ground. The aim of this article is to read this film as a manifestation of such complementary ideas and ideals surrounding the then (re-)emerging Nordic welfare state system.