Under the Sun (Under Solen) is a 1998 film from Sweden directed by Colin Nutley.
The setting is the early 1950s. Olof is a farmer who turned 40 not long ago. He has lived alone since his mother died nearly a decade ago. Olaf is illiterate, and as a consequence depends on his cheerful younger friend Erik for many mundane tasks like paying bills.
Olof puts an ad in the paper for a housekeeper, although his motives are obviously mixed—he specifies a young woman to keep house, and he asks for a photograph. He gets an answer from a good-looking blonde named Ellen, who settles down in Olof's house immediately. Predictably, feelings begin to develop between Olof and Ellen, but Erik is suspicious. He does a little investigating and discovers that Ellen has a secret.
Tropes:
- Bathtub Scene: In a scene thick with sexual tension, Ellen announces that she'd like a bath, and Olof helps her fill the old-fashioned clawfoot bathtub with water. She then takes her bath, with Olaf on the other side of a closed door listening, and Ellen very aware that Olof is listening.
- The Big Damn Kiss: Between Ellen and Olof at the end when she finally returns and he learns what her letter really said.
- Blade-of-Grass Cut: There are a couple of close-up shots of bugs crawling around Olof's window, emphasizing the isolation of the farm and how he hasn't kept it very clean. Later there's an extreme closeup of strawberries on the vine, which were Ellen's idea, and which shows how she's improved things.
- Call-Forward: Erik, who sometimes works as a sailor, announces that he is leaving because he's joined up to sail on the Andrea Doria. The Andrea Doria famously sank in the mid-Atlantic after a collision with another ship in 1956, although almost everyone was saved.
- Down on the Farm: Olof has a rural chicken farm. It is a quite primitive place without running water, requiring both he and Ellen to use chamber pots. There are also many shots of the rustic beauty of Olof's land.
- Gossipy Hens: The pastor, who cannot resist telling Erik how he found out about Olof putting out an ad for a housekeeper. When Erik tells him to keep his mouth shut, the pastor has the effrontery to say "You know me, mum's the word."
- Gratuitous English: Erik has worked as a sailor and claims to have spent a lot of time in America. He apparently knows English well, as when he sees Ellen he drops into English and says "Oh, the lady with the legs!"
- Leg Focus: Ellen sits on her suitcase by the side of the road, crossing and recrossing her lovely legs. Lampshaded when Erik, who passed by her driving a cart, sees her again and calls her "the lady with the legs."
- Love Triangle: Erik might be sincerely thinking that Ellen is a Gold Digger—it does seem a little bit odd that such a hot woman would be content to be a housekeeper—but part of the problem is that he's clearly attracted to her himself, and jealous of Olof. He also seems to be jealous of Ellen, getting upset when Olof forgets his and Erik's monthly trip to the races because he's off buying Ellen a dress.
- Never Learned to Read: Olof is illiterate. Erik knows but most other people, including Ellen, don't. This becomes plot-relevant when Ellen leaves a note behind, Olof asks Erik to read it, and Erik makes up some stuff about Ellen confessing that she stole money from Olaf.
- Of Corsets Sexy: Discussed Trope, as Erik says that the laundry has gotten "more interesting" and points to Ellen's underwear, including a corset, hanging out on the clothesline. He wonders how women fit themselves into corsets.
- Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: Erik brags about meeting Elvis Presley, and is shocked when Ellen does not know who that is.
- The Reveal: Erik finally figures out what Ellen is hiding: she's married.
- Romantic Rain: Olof and Ellen make love in a barn with a leaky room, and get soaked by a rainstorm. Erik shows up when they are mid-coitus but Ellen tells Olof not to stop.
- Toplessness from the Back: In a scene where Ellen is washing in her room, after the sexual tension has gotten up to boiling point.
- Translation with an Agenda: Ellen, who does not know that Olof is illiterate, leaves a good-bye note in which she confesses that she's married, proclaims her love for him, and says she'll sort things out. Olof gives the note to Erik to read. Erik maliciously makes up a completely different message, pretending that the note says Erik gave her money to pay off a debt and she left with it, and leaving out the declaration of love.
- Voiceover Letter: Ellen's goodbye letter to Olof, in which she confesses that she's married and she's leaving to "set things right." Her voicever is intercut with Erik's malicious misreading of the letter in which he pretends Ellen simply robbed Olof and left.
- Zip Me Up: Olof catches Ellen halfway through taking her dress off, and asks her to keep it on for dinner. She says that he'll need to zip her up—and this leads to his Anguished Declaration of Love after he zips her up, although he's still too shy to kiss her.
