This enjoyable Swedish venture seeks to rewrite the overused manual concerning rites-of-passage for sensitive teenagers. For while all the cliches of the genre are present, they are invested with refreshing candour and an amusing eye for the sticky longings of young males.
Set in 1943 in a Malmo school, the film charts the growing pains of teenager Stig (Widerberg, the director's son) whose loins are stirred by the arrival of new teacher Viola (Lagercrantz). Intoxicated by her sensuality he makes a clumsy lunge for her, to which she surprisingly responds.
How this relationship develops forms the first (and better) half of the film. The second half broadens the focus as Stig befriends Viola's husband, contends with the persistent designs of a 12-year-old admirer (scene stealing Huldt) and sees his brother dispatched to war, all of which take their toll on the fracturing teacher-pupil liaison.
Director Widerberg is humorously spot-on with his adolescent carnal misconceptions and tellingly evokes the teenage impulse towards sex: Stig's obsession is not an airy romantic crush but rather lust fuelled by curiosity.
Occasionally, things lapse into ponderous pretension and some of the subplots are perfunctory. Still, the central duo are engaging and believable and the whole thing is shot through with disregard for formula and conventional morality.