Vingarne

The Wings
Nils Asther in the film
Directed by	Mauritz Stiller
Written by	Axel Esbensen Mauritz Stiller
Starring	Egil Eide Lars Hanson Lili Bech Julius Hälsig
Cinematography	Julius Jaenzon
Distributed by	Svenska Biografteatern
Release date	1916
Running time	69 minutes
Country	Sweden
Language	Swedish

The Wings (Swedish: Vingarne) is a 1916 Swedish silent film directed by Mauritz Stiller, starring Egil Eide, Lars Hanson, Lili Bech, and Julius Hälsig, and was based on Herman Bang's 1902 novel Mikaël, which was the same source Carl Theodor Dreyer used for his 1924 film Michael.

Besides being an early gay-themed film, it is also notable for its innovative use of a framing story and telling the plot primarily through the use of flashbacks.

The story is that of a conniving countess (played by Lili Bech) coming between a gay sculptor, Claude Zoret (Egil Eide), and his bisexual model and lover, Mikaël (Lars Hanson), ultimately leading to Zoret's death in a raging storm at the base of a statue of Mikaël as the mythological Icarus.

The film is largely lost, with only half an hour surviving of the original 70-minute film. A restoration was made using still photos and title cards to bridge the missing sections in 1987.

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Wikipedia