This intriguing post WWII character study is a worthy entry from Hasse Ekman, a director well known in Sweden who has been getting a re-evaluation stateside after a 2015 revival of some of his work at New York City's Museum of Modern Art.
The setting is a Stockholm apartment complex where the concierge locks the main entrance at 9 p.m.daily (we later see him reopening the building at 7 a.m.) He and his voyeuristic wife don't get much rest though during these after hours as characters are constantly coming in and out, perking the curiosity of the wife and squabbling by the man.
We get to know a number of characters whose fates will become intertwined that night: A cheerful prostitute soliciting business,a wife receiving divorce papers from her husband, an elderly man out for a stroll who tries to impress people by dressing elegantly and dropping French phrases, a partying baron who specializes in picking up different women, a washed up old actress who tries to cajole her former producer into giving her a part again ,in a Strindberg play.
The night takes a dark turn for several of them. There is a skillful balance in the way their little dramas are presented though arguably too much emphasis on the aged thespian as she hits the bottle and lurches toward suicide.(Though one understands, given director Ekman's family background in the theater, why he places so much weight on this subplot.)
One of the better films that has been made about an apartment building.
See also, the Russian silent House On Trubnaya Square by Boris Barnet and of course Hitchcock's Rear Window.
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