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Based on my search results and internal knowledge of "Girl with Hyacinths" (1950), I can provide you with specific details about the primary conflict between characters and how it began.
The primary conflict in "Girl with Hyacinths" is not a traditional confrontational conflict between characters, but rather a complex web of misunderstanding and emotional disconnection that ultimately centers around the profound isolation of the protagonist, Dagmar Brink.
The young woman's name was Dagmar Brink, and she was something of a loner, and after a young woman commits suicide, her neighbors try to piece together why she did it by tracking down her acquaintances. The investigation reveals multiple layers of interpersonal conflict.
The most devastating conflict emerges from a party flashback where Dagmar ran into a friend there. When asked "How did you escape Paris?" the mystery woman replied "I collaborated with the Germans. Don't look at me like that. I had to survive." Dagmar responded "You've let me down". This revelation represents the final realisation that the one person she loved and felt she could count on had proved unworthy of her love, a collaborator with the Nazis while living in Paris.
Multiple male characters project their own desires and interpretations onto Dagmar, creating a pattern of failed relationships. This quiet intensity allows men to paint their own fantasies upon her. Specifically:
An alcoholic artist who painted her portrait said "We broke up because I'm an alcoholic. There was something peculiar about that girl"
A singer who "gave all the chicks his records" but noted "that one wouldn't sleep with me"
The conflict stems from Dagmar's essential nature as someone who was "of the hopeless kind, that asks too much of life and the people around me. I want them to be good, and real, and kind… and when they aren't, I take it very badly". She fails at maintaining meaningful relationships and feels inherently out of place in the world around her and sees no way this could change.
The film reveals that the film's last twist is the reveal of her feelings for a woman. The reveal of Dagmar's queerness ties this all together. Girl with Hyacinths has been called the lesbian Citizen Kane, and when a beggar tells her "No man is worth it," Dagmar responds "There is no MAN".
The primary conflict thus emerges from a society and relationships that cannot accommodate Dagmar's true nature, combined with the devastating discovery that even the woman she loved most had morally compromised herself during the war. This creates an insurmountable sense of betrayal and isolation that drives her to suicide.
The AI summary does acknowledge this isn't 'traditional confrontational conflict' but doesn't fully address that asking 'how conflicts started' is somewhat mismatched to a posthumous investigation film. The 'conflicts' are revealed through flashbacks, not depicted as they unfold.
While the AI summary accurately describes both the Paris collaboration scene and mentions Alex separately, it doesn't clearly state that the 'mystery woman' at the party IS Alex. This is the film's key revelation - that Alex, assumed to be a man, is actually the woman Dagmar loved.
The summary mentions the artist and singer but doesn't include other relationships like her ex-husband Captain Brink (who found a letter from Alex), her biological father the banker who coldly rejected her, or her previous suicide attempt mentioned to Britt Wikner. These add layers to understanding her complete isolation.
While mentioning 'lesbian Citizen Kane,' the AI summary doesn't explain the structural parallel - the investigation through multiple POVs, the mystery name that recurs (Alex/Rosebud), and the final revelation that recontextualizes everything. This is relevant to understanding how the 'conflict' is presented.
The query asks about 'conflict between characters' in Girl with Hyacinths (1950), but the film's structure makes this a complex question to answer. The film is not about active interpersonal conflicts - it's a posthumous investigation. Dagmar Brink has already died by suicide when the film begins, and writer Anders Wikner and his wife Britt piece together her story through flashbacks.
The 'conflicts' are therefore retrospectively revealed rather than depicted as they occur:
Primary conflict: Dagmar's inability to be understood or accepted
Dagmar exists in a state of profound isolation stemming from her queerness in 1940s Sweden. Throughout the investigation, various people reveal their relationships with her, but all fundamentally misunderstood her. The male characters in particular - an alcoholic artist (Elias Körner), a womanizing singer (Willy Borge), her ex-husband Captain Stefan Brink, her cold biological father the banker - all projected their own interpretations onto her quiet demeanor.
How it started: The Alex mystery and Paris betrayal
The investigation keeps uncovering references to 'Alex,' whom everyone assumes is a male love interest. Dagmar's ex-husband discovered a letter from Alex, which destroyed their marriage. Britt Wikner stopped a previous suicide attempt where Dagmar said 'If Alex lets me down, I'll have no one left.'
The revelation comes through a party flashback (the night of her suicide): Dagmar encounters a woman at the singer's party. When Dagmar asks 'How did you escape Paris?' the woman responds 'I collaborated with the Germans. Don't look at me like that. I had to survive.' Dagmar says 'You've let me down' and flees. This woman is Alex - the person Dagmar loved.
The film's final reveal is signaled earlier when a beggar on the bridge tells the distraught Dagmar 'No man is worth it,' and she replies 'There is no MAN.'
The cumulative conflict: The fundamental conflict is between Dagmar's authentic self and a society that cannot accommodate her queerness. This is compounded by the devastating discovery that even the woman she loved (Alex) had morally compromised herself through Nazi collaboration. The combination of societal alienation, failed connections with men who never understood her, and the ultimate betrayal by the woman she loved creates an 'insurmountable sense of betrayal and isolation' that leads to her suicide.
The film has been called the 'lesbian Citizen Kane' both for its investigation-through-flashbacks structure and for its treatment of queer themes in 1950, remarkably progressive for its time.