True confession time: I have an increasingly hard time watching frock flicks with subtitles. I have to switch to a different pair of glasses to read subtitles on my TV (which is just across a smallish living room from my couch), but then I can’t do anything that requires up-close vision without switching back to my usual glasses. So I have to make a real commitment to watching subtitled things, I can’t multitask, I can’t get up multiple times to forage for snacks, and I can’t even make notes for a Frock Flicks post. So if I find a subtitled flick that I enjoy watching, well, I must really be engaged enough to stick with the other pair of glasses!
Thus, here’s my solid recommendation for Miss Friman’s War (2013-17), aka Fröken Frimans Krig, from Sweden. I thoroughly enjoyed this series set in the 1900s Stockholm about women’s rights. All 12 episodes are currently available on PBS Passport, where it’s broken into two seasons. It was originally aired in four seasons with the first about creating a food co-operative, the second about working for women’s suffrage, the third on aiding prostitutes, and fourth about women in the labor movement. The main character of Dagmar Friman is loosely based on Anna Whitlock, who founded the grocery co-operative Svenska Hem in 1905.
This series starts out like it’s going to be about suffragists in Sweden, but then Dagmar quickly realizes that votes for women isn’t the most important cause in town just yet. Grocery impurities are actually killing people, which she sees when her boarding house’s helper boy tries to steal food. The kid’s older brother is dying from tuberculosis contracted from infected meat or dairy products. She decides to set up a food co-op and slowly enlists the help of her brother’s wife, plus a rich widow and a female accountant from her boarding house.
What quickly becomes engrossing is how these women build their coalitions and deal with the barriers in their way. Some of the restrictions they face are social, some are political, and it all feels realistic. I really enjoyed how this is a wholly feminist historical story, and while it does cover women’s suffrage, the series gives more context and includes other important aspects of women’s lives during the period. This series is all about sisters doing it for themselves in a totally practical fashion. The main characters are women from various walks of life, in different places in their lives, with their own motivations and entanglements. There’s even a queer storyline that feels accurate to the characters and the setting. The basic story is based in history, so the concept feels sound.
There’s a wonderful portrayal of women’s friendships too. When Dagmar and Kinna disagree, they attempt to resolve things through learning more about the topic and each other’s point of view. They talk about the details and see where each other has valid points. It’s the essence of compromise, and it’s beautiful. Their complicated friendship is the backbone of the story.
The costumes aren’t super exciting, given that these are women working in a grocery store, and most of the ladies wear practical garb. Two of the characters are more wealthy with appropriate outfits. Hair is tidily up (except on one younger woman, but only when she’s not working), and hats are worn outside the house. But each character has basically one outfit for the entire series! Just minor changes for all but the two wealthy women, and even they only have perhaps three outfits over the course of what’s supposed to be about three or four years.
Now, for TV, this is boring, but if you think about it, that is more realistic for history. Before mass manufactured clothing was widely available, only the very wealthy had many changes of clothes. Working-class women, like these, would have just a few outfits that they wore all the time. I rather think the two wealthy characters would have a bit more clothes than seen in this show though.
Minor quibble because obviously I watched the whole thing, eating it up, without getting more fancy frocks. I’d watch another season too if they’d made more. Worth wearing my other glasses for!
Have you seen Miss Friman’s War?
Find this frock flick at:
Trystan, bifocals! I work from texts and on my computer and I asked my eye doc for a prescription specifically for that and it’s amazing.
I’ve tried but can’t get the hang of them, unfortunately.
I’m with you: I really enjoyed Miss Friman’s War.
Historically, this series is a total shitshow as the writers have been copying generic British storylines instead of doing the most basic research. Until 1907 voting rights were largely based on property ownership and tax payments. This meant that many working-class men, who did not meet these criteria, were excluded from the electoral process, in the same way as all women. The Swedish suffragette movement was closely linked to the broader social democratic movement, which played a significant ro
le in advocating for women’s rights in Sweden. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as the social democratic party gained momentum, it became increasingly involved in the fight for women’s suffrage. Misrepresenting the connections and historical context of the suffrage movement can lead to a distorted understanding of Sweden’s democratic development and the ongoing struggle for equality
I really loathed this show because it felt like a poorly researched jumble of generic British suffragette storylines. In Sweden, voting rights were largely tied to property ownership and tax payments, which meant that most working-class men were also excluded from the electoral process until 1907. As the social democratic party gained momentum in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it actively fought for universal suffrage for both sexes. These movements are inseparable. Yet, the middle-class writers of this show chose to misrepresent the Swedish suffragettes by deliberately ignoring their crucial role in the larger Social Democratic movement.