Ingmar Bergman, Swedish sexploitation and early Swedish porn

This article discusses intertextual relations between Ingmar Bergman films and four films from the Swedish history of late 1960s and 1970s sexploitation and pornography. Although Bergman played a significant role in the liberalization of film censorship in Sweden in the 1960s and was known for the beautiful actresses of his films, that he demonstrably inspired film-makers operating in what is usually regarded as the complete opposite of art cinema is not so widely known. In the films Jag – en oskuld/Inga (1968), Thriller – en grym film/Thriller – A Cruel Picture (1974), Justine och Juliette/Justine and Juliette (1975) and Fäbodjäntan/Come Blow the Horn (1978) there are several intertextual relations, both deliberate allusions and more implicit and unintended connections. These relations may have an impact on how we regard both the role of Bergman and the directors of sexually explicit films in the particular context of Sweden in the 1960s and 1970s.