This year the pianist Edward von Past will play to the adaptation of Elin Wägner’s 1908 novel Norrtullsligan. Four young women working as office clerks share a flat in Stockholm, trying to make ends meet in a world where wages are low, men are all too forward, and marriage still seems like the safest way out.
In their shared home, they cook on the floor, sausages is hidden in desk drawers, and various strategies for keeping unwanted male attention at bay, including sealing the keyhole so they can move freely around the flat in their underwear. Beneath the humour lies a sharp portrayal of women’s working conditions and the solidarity that grows between them.
When the film premiered in 1923, questions of work, independence, love and women’s civil rights were very much part of the contemporary debate. The leading roles are played by Tora Teje, Inga Tidblad, Renée Björling and Linnea Hillberg.
