The film, I Am Curious (Yellow) is the story of a young girl named Lena's awakening to her society's ills and to the tumultuousness of sexual exploration. For all intents and purposes, the film is structured like a French New Wave piece. There is a very loosely structured plot, fast and loose editing techniques are employed, documentary footage is included and the characters are passionately politically motivated.
There is a film within a film as Lena works with a filmmaker to interview people on the street about their thoughts on money, religion, sex and politics. The filmmaker is played by Vilgot Sjöman himself, as a filmmaker striving to make a difference and push the boundaries of what he can do on film. I have to assume he is playing a parody of himself, as he doesn't really come off in the best light, appearing a bit pretentious and a little sleazy towards our young heroine.
One particularly interesting scene is made of actual documentary footage of an interview with Dr. Martin Luthor King, who Sjöman interviewed during the former's visit to Sweden in an attempt to gain Swedish support of the plight of African Americans (perhaps it was a European tour for support, as I have to wonder the significance of Sweden itself). Also of note is the film's frank and deliberate representation of nudity and staged intercourse, in fact, I found myself surprised by the casual inclusion of nudity and sexual situations without feeling gratuitous, artsy or pornographic. It just "was."
I was surprised that I had not heard of this film, nor the companion film I Am Curious (Blue) before this past year, as I have discovered numerous pop culture references to the film, due to it's controversial nature and an American court case to keep it out of our theaters. Episodes of Moonlighting, The Lucy Show, Get Smart, Melrose Place and The Simpons have all had titles referencing the film. Not to mention homage being paid by the british music group The Fall, a color by the Chrysler Corp, and a title of an issue of Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane.
All in all I'm glad I saw the film and I am curious (HA!) about the companion piece. It made me think about how much a film can be both ahead of it's time and completely representative of the time it was made at, since it is grouped in with alot of New Wave work, though it was not part of that movement officially.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find any clips online that had subtitles to post here.
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