Cactus flower

“In the movies, all Swedish women are sexy, and this one looks like a glacier,” comments the aura of Miss Dickinson (Ingrid Bergman), a patient of the dental office where the heroine works as a nurse and receptionist. A white apron fastened around the neck and impeccable hairstyle perfectly harmonize with her restraint, composure and tart humor. Miss Dickinson's orderly life begins to get complicated when her superior, a respected dentist (Walter Matthau) and an incorrigible lowelas, drags her into his love intrigue. Wanting to avoid obligations to the youthful Toni (Goldie Hawn), he convinces her that he has a wife and children, however, when he decides to marry her, the girl demands to meet her alleged spouse first. So the man turns to Miss Dickinson with an unusual proposal.

For Ingrid Bergman — whose screen career in the 1940s and 1950s relied primarily on sublime melodrama, lyrical heroines and heroines faced with moral dilemmas — “The Cactus Flower” was one of the few comedic performances of her career. It reveals the actress from a completely different side: more perverse and ready for a comedic element. The personal crisis management of a certain reckless dentist gradually disarms the “icy” superficiality and emotional reserve of a rigid nurse. And when, at one point, completely relaxed, she moves as if there was no tomorrow to the disco dance floor to the rhythm of swinging music, it's hard not to get excited at the sight of Bergman so different from her canonical incarnations.

Original title: Cactus Flower
Country of manufacture: USA
Year of manufacture: 1969
Directed by: Gene Saks
Cast: Goldie Hawn, Ingrid Bergman, Walter Matthau, Vito Scotty
Duration: 103 min.

Hall: Stolica
Lecture - Kamil Kalbarczyk
Projection from DCP | Polish subtitles | English friendly

The appearance of an actor on the screen is never innocent. Subsequent roles accumulate in the memory of viewers, evoking echoes of previous characters, gestures and emotions.Over time, they form an emploi, that is, a network of associations through which the star begins to be identified witha certain type of hero, film genre or way of being. Especially in classical cinema, such consistency was desirable and constituted one of the foundations of the star system.

At the same time, the history of cinema is full of roles that evade this order. Sometimes these are spectacular breaks with the previous image, when the star consciously rebuilds his own emploi. Sometimes a subtle shift in the genre, emotional tone, or character psychology is enough for a well-known persona to reveal new meanings. The opposite also happens — a rich and diverse filmography is reduced by the memory of the viewers to one or two iconic creations that obscure everything that came before and after them.

In the series “Icons of cinema. Non-obvious roles” we offer a look at the legendary actresses from an unusual perspective. We are interested in roles played against the established image, surprising genre and characterological turns, and films that remain in the shadow of the most famous titles — both those created before the birth of the legend and the late stage repertoire choices.

We will see, among others: the comedic Ingrid Bergman outside the canon of sublime heroines of melodrama and historical cinema, Anne Bancrofts in front of the seductive Mrs. Robinson, Jadwiga Smosarska escaping the image of the immaculate lady of pre-war cinema, Monica Vitti outside the melancholic world of Antonioni, Audrey Hepburn the distant from fairytale romantic comedies, Bette Davisin a more lyrical and subtle incarnation is Sophia Lorenchallenging the stereotype of the Italian sex bomb.

We invite you to travel through the lesser-known corners of the filmography of outstanding actresses. It's an opportunity to discover creations overlooked, forgotten or surprisingly different from the roles that built their fame. They will show how complex and ambiguous on-screen personas can be, and how easily collective memory simplifies even the most diverse careers. Sometimes it is the less obvious films that allow you to most fully see the acting talent and understand that the iconic image never exhausts the whole story.

Each monthly screening at the Iluzjon Cinema in Warsaw will be preceded by a lecture presenting the context of a given actress's on-screen image: its sources, transformations, cracks and non-obvious areas that will reveal the films we have selected.