Rediscovering: Christina Lindberg

****This article contains mature content****

Each month, I will be focusing on something within the film world that deserves to be rediscovered, whether it’s a film, actor/actress, or similar themed subjects, in an opinion form. This month we will rediscover the films of Christina Lindberg.

One looked at Christina Lindberg and you’ll realize why she was in movies. She is naturally gorgeous; short and petite, with piercing doe-eyes, her angelic face, she was more like a dirty angel. Her films are purely conditioned for a certain group of people, which might make this rediscovery harder to reach a wider audience. She only acted for a little over a decade, mostly Swedish productions, but I would like to focus on a couple of them.

Christina was born in 1950, in Gothenburg, Sweden, with four other siblings, to a working class family. While she studied Latin and pursued studies in archeology it was in the late 1960s when she became modeling. After gathering some publicity for her swimsuit photos and some rather frank nude pictures for two of Sweden’s top men’s magazines, did film enter her life.

“Maid in Sweden”, a 1969 American/Swedish coproduction, was to be her first feature film. It wasn’t until 1971 when the film was finally released, mostly to capitalize off her Penthouse Pet for June 1970 and some buzz after the Cannes appearance of “Exposed”, the film is an almost non-scripted depiction of sexual awakenings. The plot centers on a young, 16 year old named Inga, who goes to meet up with her sister in Stockholm. She’s young and naive, a counterpart to her carefree and liberal sister. After a near rape encounter, she begins a sexual odyssey that liberates her from her small town sensibilities.

The film feels highly improvised as situations and dialogue are either random or stilted, but the film follows within its genre. Being an erotica/sexploitation film and given this is Christina’s first film, it’s rather amazing her gun-ho attitude towards the film’s more explicit tastes. Early on, one can tell she isn’t shy, displaying her well-proportioned figure and even in the film’s sex scenes, she’s open and ballsy. While “Maid in Sweden” isn’t that good on a film, let alone a sexploitation film, this begins her rise within the community.

The next important film in her biography is the exploitation called “Exposed” or also known as “Depraved”. This rarely seen film caused people to take notice of Christina who was featured in numerous full frontal nude scenes and sequences of rape and S&M. The film became a hot button issue for numerous countries who either wildly cut the film or just outright banned it. A long rumored uncut version has been stated by Synapse Films, as I once contacted them about the release saying they just filmed an interview with Christina, but as of this writing, that’s been over two years ago. It’s hard to find much information on it, outside of its trailer which can be widely scene. Some have suggested much of the film plays with Lena’s (Lindberg’s character) confused mentality, another film filled with erotic elements and samples of a more explicit sexploitation, but it’s another statement in the cult of Christina. Plus it is her first appearance teamed with Heinz Hopf. We get a clear sense of chemistry between them early on, which leads to her most famous film.

Before that film, she was touring Japan when she later hooked up with two big stars within the Japanese film community, director Norifumi Suzuki and star Reiko Ike. The film, “Sex and Fury”, is a minor Pinky Violence classic, a genre that usually mixed female leads, with gore and sexploitation elements. Suzuki handles the genre as well as anyone during the time that these films peaked, and while Christina was a secondary character, the film still featured her potently. Ike steals the show with her swordplay, but Christina displays a rare bit of actual acting and handles the subject just fine. She plays a European spy, who falls for one of the people she’s trying to bring down. The film positioned her as a beautiful woman, given her dialogue and scenes of emotion, greatly allowing her to actually act, when most of the Swedish films allowed nudity over acting skills. She holds up just fine against her co-stars and while she’s not top billed, “Sex and Fury” is one of her better films.

In between appearing in Playboy and some other magazines and these films I’ve been talking about, a Swedish director sought her out for a starring role in his latest film. Christina wanted the film too as it would help display, outside of her body, some acting range that she show some promise in with “Sex and Fury”. Bo Arne Vibenius knew she could handle the role, but he wasn’t too sure of her acting. While she agreed, despite studying acting, her role was to be mute. In some ways, I think this is where Christina excels. Her acting is okay, but she can make men weep in lust or pain, with the softest of looks, so I believe the film used her strength for the better.

The film was to be “Thriller-A Grim Picture”, or as it became known in America, “They Call Her One Eye”. For a film that became the first film to be outright banned in its homeland of Sweden for some controversial elements, “Thriller” is one of the most unique films in the rape/revenge genre. The story follows some of the genres conventions, but playfully mixes in some elements that add some grim psychological components to what is otherwise just an exploitation film. A young girl, Madeleine, is sexually assaulted by an older man, an attack that left her mute. Growing up, she blossomed in to a beautiful girl, who meets a man who wants to take her out into town for dinner. His intentions aren’t what they seem, as he drugs her into a life of prostitution. As she tries to escape, he plucks out her eye with a knife. Realizing she can do extra for her “Johns”, she saves up enough to learn various techniques like martial arts, driving, and weaponry. Then she goes after them all.

It’s a rousing film, full of exploitation goodness. Blood, gore, and sex in almost every frame, but it’s the films more controversial elements that leave many in discussion. Vibenius uses hardcore footage when Madeleine is with a “John”, but the footage is far from stimulating. It’s used to show a frank, horrendous situation, a lifestyle that is as gross as it is appalling. Close-ups of genitals and the eventual climax build a sympathetic side to her character. Although many have claimed against the use of this footage, I believe Vibenius was wise in his direction of these scenes. It creates harsh reality for Madeleine; saying she’s in prostitution is one thing, showing it is another. Seeing her various “Johns” do things to her creates a ticking time bomb in Madeleine and one that explodes at the end of the film, in slow-motion sequences, savoring her vengeance to the last drop.

Even if the hardcore footage caused the film to be banned, the violence would’ve too as the film’s other controversial and memorable scene shows. When her pimp stabs a knife into Madeleine’s eye, we see the knife jarringly thrust in, using an extreme close-up. For an authentic look to the eye and knife, Vibenius used a real cadaver (reportedly a girl who just committed suicide) as actor Heinz Hopf struck her eye. You’ll never know if it was a special effect or not, although there’s something extra slimy about the footage. For a film that has been advertised as a movie who knows no limits of evil, knowing the back story to this scene adds a new dimension to that tagline.

The movie is every bit as it is advertised, a film that is truly unique, even outside of the violence and hardcore scenes. I think there are some interesting ideas about revenge and sex going on, which gives the film some subtext not ever really seen in a rape/revenge film. Regardless, the film was banned in Sweden and many other countries. For stateside release A.I.P. pick it up but cut nearly 20 minutes of the film out, mostly the eye gouge scene and the hardcore stuff. Thankfully, Synapse Films has released the uncut film in a good DVD edition, the way it was meant to be seen. Recently, the film has shared some new attention thanks to Quentin Tarantino as he used Madeleine for the character of Elle in “Kill Bill”. Also, her scenes with Hopf snap and sizzle as they have a natural chemistry together. A more amped up version of this, perhaps is the Elle and Bud scenes?

From here on Christina did a few more films, mostly Swedish sex comedies, but soon began to get uninspired as films started to gravitate towards more explicit scenes. Christina was also in a wave of backlash against the films she had appeared in from feminists. They claimed she was conforming to male status quos. She disagreed and I think they did miss a point. Is being proud of one’s body and awaking new experiences wrong and against the feminist ideas? Her films displayed enough sex and nudity, but Christina herself never would have let seedier ideas or films bring her out in a wrong way. I think if the Swedish market or if Christina wanted too, her acting career could’ve blossomed more. She was clearly a gorgeous woman and one who could’ve been a Bond girl. Comparing Christina to any of the Roger Moore bond girls at the time and there’s no comparison. Maybe it was meant to be, having Christina leave us with these unique Euro films. As she latter pursued journalism and other endeavors, her films will be continued to be sought out after. She’s a unique Euro-babe and with “Thriller” won’t soon be forgotten.

In the next issue of Rediscovering, we’ll look back at “Eyes wide Shut (1999)”.