Anna Holm’s face was scarred in her childhood by a tragic fire that claimed the lives of her parents. Many years later, she is the leader of a criminal gang that lives off the intrigues and greed of Stockholm’s wealthy elite. After unsuccessfully blackmailing the surgeon Wegert and his unfaithful wife, Anna is offered an opportunity to start a new life: to become a governess and get a new face. Later, while planning another scheme for the gang, Anna can no longer recognise herself.

Ingrid Bergman felt strongly about the film, writing, “[this is] my own picture, my very own. I have fought for it”. Swedish audiences could not accept that the then 23-year-old actress changed her type so radically – from being an emotionally laden, self-sufficient lover to playing an unpredictable extortionist with a new face. This psychological thriller with shades of film noir was filmed shortly before Bergman left for Hollywood and is based on the play “Once Upon a Time” by Francis de Croisset. At the film’s world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in 1938, it made history by winning a Special Recommendation for its “overall artistic contribution”. George Cukor directed a remake that was released in the US in 1941 and starred Joan Crawford as Anna.