A brooding student struggles with his final exams, much to the dismay of his father, who is facing troubles of his own at the college where he teaches. One night the son meets a factory girl at a dancehall, and the turn of events inevitably leads to a confrontation with the father, which brings family secrets into the light.
This drama about generational rift and social class was a contribution to Swedish cinema’s nascent fascination with teenagers in the early 1950s. The film is an adaptation of a novel by Vilgot Sjöman, who in the 1960s would become a director himself, even though several changes to the original script were allegedly made by Molander and his frequent writing collaborator Gösta Stevens – the novel focuses on the religious torments of the father, of which very little is left in the film.
Harriet Andersson had her first leading part in Trots, and her portrayal of the independent yet vulnerable working-class teenager was seen as something new and refreshing by contemporary critics, anticipating her performance in Ingmar Bergman’s Summer with Monika the following year. Andersson, who had already appeared in a brief supporting role in Molander’s Frånskild (Divorced, 1951), would later recall fondly how Molander coached her into finding her own voice during the shoot.
The son is played by Per Oscarsson, later known for his performance in the leading role in Henning Carlsen’s Hamsun adaptation Sult (Hunger, 1966).

Jon Wengström