Swedish jazz singer Monica Zetterlund was her country's best-loved chanteuse, but she wanted more. And the one thing that gave her a chance at global stardom? She could sing in English without a European accent.
"Monica Z" (International Title: "Waltz For Monica") tells the story of her not-so-speedy rise to stardom. Monica got there in the end, step by shaky step.
The films shows how Monica (played by Edda Magnason) sang by night while working as a phone operator by day — she longs to succeed and to finally snag some approval from her ever-disapproving dad (Kjell Bergqvist). But, in New York, revelation comes in the form of Ella Fitzgerald, who casually asks Monica why she's "pretending to be somebody else." The implication was that she should sing in her own language, about her own life and just forget about covering standards in English.