Wealthy socialite Sonja meets the handsome mechanic Erik when she drops off her elegant car for repairs. Instantly drawn to each other, they eventually break off their other relationships to be together and marry – at which point the real problems begin. Edith Carlmar worked as a film production manager before venturing into directing. Between 1949 and 1959, she made ten films, nine of them produced by Carlmar Film, the company she ran with her husband. Her debut, Døden er et kjærtegn, is considered the first Norwegian noir and, more importantly, the first film directed by a woman in Norway. Over the next decade, Carlmar Film sought to streamline production to save time and money, focusing on social dramas and comedies to attract audiences. The strategy was successful: Carlmar’s filmography includes Fjolls til fjells (Fools in the Mountains, 1957), one of the most popular films in Norway in the 1950s, and Ung flukt (The Wayward Girl, 1959), her final film, which famously launched Liv Ullmann’s career. Døden er et kjærtegn is based on a Norwegian novel but is clearly inspired by Double Indemnity(1944) and other American noirs that made their way to Europe after the war. The film includes many genre conventions: flashbacks, music, chiaroscuro lighting, night scenes, and evocative locations, and even the title itself, which signals the link between sex and death. Sonja, the femme fatale, is greedy, beautiful, and as cold as her American counterparts. She enjoys sex without shame, often captured in sensual close-ups. More unusually, Erik’s pleasure is portrayed in the same way. Despite the scandal caused by the sex scenes, or perhaps because of it, Døden er et kjærtegn was well-received by both audiences and critics.

Irene Torp Halvorsen