Our Staff Picks column takes you back to a time when video stores reigned supreme and the "Staff Picks" section was the place to find out what films were worthy of one's time. Of course, our version of Staff Picks has a decidedly skintillating angle, as we suss out which films from a certain area of the world with great nudity. Let's take a look at Scandinavian films!
The cold weather makes me think of the region of Scandinavia. No, I have never been there and, yes, I know that the summers there are very green and sunny. But I also know that their winters are cold and snowy! Scandinavia consists of Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Finland, and Denmark as well as Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
Scandinavian cinema has given the world SO much, especially in the swinging 60s when they got very experimental and sexual. We will talk more about that in a moment!
Cries and Whispers
One of the most influential filmmakers to come out of this region is without a doubt, Ingmar Bergman. He is the mind behind The Seventh Seal, Persona, Autumn Sonata and so many more. Only his later films include good nudity and one of the finest nude scenes comes from his 1972 film Cries and Whispers.
Ingrid Thulin - who was a favorite of Bergman's to work with - plays Karin who is our leading lady. She has terminal cancer at the end of the 1800s and her sisters come over to help her in her final days. The sisters all have interesting stories, but there is only one nude scene in which Ingrid gets help changing her clothes.
Ghabe
Markus Castro directed this Swedish film that shows off the country's greenery beautiful. The scenery in this film is gorgeous. There are lush green trees everywhere, beautiful lakes, and a gorgeous woman going nude.
The plot follows a Syrian refugee in Sweden who hangs out with his cousin in the Swedish woods. That is where he meets the gorgeous Moa who loves to skinny-dip. We love that for her! Watch Nathalie Williamsdotter play Moa who can't stop taking off her clothes and frolicking in the woods before and after jumping into the lake.
Sofie
This 1992 film is shockingly rated PG which is crazy considering we definitely see bush. Karen-Lise Mynster plays the titular Sofie who is a young Jewish woman living with her parents in turn-of-the-19th-century Copenhagen. She wants to get married to an artist, but her parents make her marry a wealthier man who winds up going nuts. So she copes in the best way that she knows how: sleeping with her brother.
How is this PG again?
Liv Ullmann directed this flick and Liv herself previously starred in the Bergman film Shame where she shamelessly showed off her suck sacks. But that's a different Scandinavian film!
I Am Curious (Yellow)
When you think of an artsy foreign film, you are probably thinking of something like this. That's because I Am Curious (Yellow) is essentially the prototype for the highly sexual foreign art film. This historically scandalous flick from director Vilgot Sjörm is about a young woman named Lena Nyman who is naturally curious about the world around her...very curious.
Little Lena goes nude often and looks like the very picture of a Swedish sexpot. With her full round breasts, light hair, and free spirit Lena charms all of us at every turn. She also has a REAL sex scene which you can watch here in which she puts her lover in her mouth. This was 1967 - no wonder it was so controversial!
As you likely know, the sequel to this movie was I am Curious (Blue) which was released the following year. Lena returned and was joined by her nude friends Bim Warne and Sonja Lindgren whom she skinnydips with.
I, a Woman
This 1965 Danish film by Mac Ahlberg introduced us to Essy Persson who played a woman with strong sexual needs. She plays a nurse who is also a bit of an exhibitionist AND a nymphomaniac. Remember: this is 1965! Can you imagine if a film like this came out in America at that time?
We get to watch this lovely young woman have sex with everyone. She can't get enough! This artsy, black-and-white film had taboo subject matter and a few tit shots that showed us just how sophisticated on-screen nudity can really be.
Hour of the Wolf
Let's have another Bergman film, shall we? I said he was the master and I meant it! In this 1968 black-and-white film, we follow a woman who narrates a story about her husband's disappearance. Her husband claimed that he was having weird interactions with people whom he was certain were demons. He was also being haunted by images of a former lover.
His wife goes through his journals to try to do some amateur detective work on what may have happened to him. It's not hard to see why he would start dreaming of his ex-lover when you see that she is played by the gorgeous Ingrid Thulin.
The Commune
Let's go back to modern times! Thomas Vinterberg directed this Danish film in 2016 that takes place at the end of the Free Love era. It's the 1970s and we see a group of hippies living in harmony on their commune, but before too long individual needs threaten the balance of the group's dynamics.
The commune eventually explodes, but not before a skinny-dipping scene that is filled with naked Danish hippies diving into the chilly waters in the buff. This looks like fun:
You Me Forever
While we are on this Danish kick, let's take a look at You Me Forever This 2012 film directed by Kaspar Munk follows two best friends named Laura and Christine who have been friends seemingly forever. Their close friendship gets shaken up when they meet a new girl who not only becomes friends with them but also causes them to explore their sexualities. It sounds like they've just introduced a third into the mix!
Julie Andersen plays Laura and Emilie Kruse plays Christine and both of them bare boobage. Check out their buns and breasts when they are getting dressed in a locker room. Naked women changing together? This might be too much for the friends to handle, but we can handle watching it.
The Sunlit Night
Do you want to see American actress Jenny Slate go skinny-dipping? You have to check out a Norwegian co-produced film in order to see that! I am talking, of course, about the 2019 indie darling The Sunlit Night. Jenny plays an American painter who goes through a nasty breakup. She decides to get out of dodge and find new inspiration and healing and she does so by heading to the Arctic to assist a reclusive Norwegian painter.
This dream gig is definitely not what she thought it would be. When she arrives, the eccentric painter asks her to paint his giant barn. Other than that, he's mean and quiet. Plus, it's Nordic summer which means that it is daylight all day long. She makes due eventually and gets all of the healing that she yearned for.
We get the nudity that we were yearning for when Luise Nes strips naked to pose for a portrait. Thank goodness it's super sunny so we get to check out her body in good lighting.
Lords of Chaos
Finally, this 2019 film tells the real story of the Norwegian Black Metal scene in the 1990s the 17-year-old metal star named Euronymous who did increasingly violent and worrisome things in the name of publicity. Sadly, one of his stunts ended in murder. The film is decidedly dark - both in subject matter and in cinematography. That's Norwegian Black Metal for you! Sky Ferreira stars and strips naked for the band members' approval. Rock on with your rock-hard nips, Sky!
