Waltz for Monica

Lovely Monica Zetterlund, a switchboard operator in rural Hagfors, Sweden, often ditches work for four-hour bus rides to Stockholm. It’s the 50s, and Monica is a jazz singer on the verge of making it big. Leaving her daughter with her disapproving father over Christmas, Monica heads for New York to sing with jazz legend Tommy Flanagan. Shooed off the stage for being “too white” to play with the black musicians, Monica heads home in disgrace. But her career takes off at home, and she becomes addicted to the high life, partying hard and shacking up with film director Vilgot Sjöman. Her neediness alienates friends and associates, and her downward spiral makes us fear she might pull a Marilyn or a Judy. Based on the life of the chanteuse who popularized jazz sung in Swedish, WALTZ FOR MONICA was the most-seen film in Sweden in 2013. It’s a tour-de-force for stunning first-time actor and musician Edda Magnason, who performs Monica’s songs herself. (In Swedish with subtitles) —B.B.