Everlasting Moments (2008)

I love this movie so much

Expected more

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

I don't know much about Scandinavian films in general so this film is a delight. A Swedish mother wins a camera in 1907. Maria Larsson has an apartment full of kids and an abusive, alcoholic philandering husband named Stigg. Daughter Maya narrates sometimes. Maria's camera opens her to a whole new world. Maria learns to take and develop photographs. Sometimes the camera and her hobby would be a source of contention in the household. She has a life affirming friendship and found a kindred spirit in Mr. Sebastian Pedersen, the local photographer. The cast is superb in this film especially the leading cast members. Maria is played excellently by the actress whose name I don't know offhand. Despite Stig's faults and flaws, he isn't always unlikable. There are moments when you understand him. I found the film to be both beautiful and timeless.

Based on the true story of working-class housewife and part-time photographer Maria Larsson, Jan Troell's film required financing from five different countries, and was almost five years in the making. When Maria Larsson (Maria Heiskanen) discovers a valuable camera in her home, she takes it to a pawn shop in order to raise some money when her husband Sigfrid (Mikael Persbrandt) loses his job. The shop owner Pedersen (Jesper Christensen) takes a special interest in the camera and shows Maria its sentimental value by demonstrating the way it manages to capture light in order to photograph an image. Having to care for her family while her abusive husband goes on strike at the shipyards, she finds solace in taking pictures as favours for the townspeople, and discovers she has a natural talent for capturing the true art of everyday life.Filmed in grainy sepia, the cinematography manages to capture the feel of the 1900-era that we modern people see only through old photographs and silent films. It's an ingenious decision as the both looks beautiful, and helps transfer the viewer into a time that we can only experience through the work of people like Maria Larsson. Credit must go to Heiskanen who captures both the suffocating pressure of her characters situation, and her stiff-upper lipped determination and strength to maintain her love for photography that is opposed by her hard-drinking husband. Persbrandt is excellent too, helping develop Sigfrid as a fully-realised character, struggling with both the class situation and the influx of British workers that are taking the jobs while he and his co-workers strike and live in near-poverty. A beautiful film, sensitively handled by the director.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

My ten stars go to the full-length version I saw at an art house last year. I loved it so much I got the DVD (from the UK) -- for which, watch out! It clips about 25 minutes off! The deleted scenes flesh out the male lead's character and the dangerously dark mood of his place and time and thus make him, his marriage, and, thus, Maria, decidedly more complex; they thus make the film more challenging. This regrettable decision dampens down the film's energy and thus, paradoxically, makes it seem slower and longer. As stensson correctly said above, "Not a second too much in any scene" -- so no need for this bad move. Still I'd give even the short version 8 or 9 stars.

EVERLASTING MOMENTS ('Maria Larssons eviga ögonblick') is a quiet, gentle masterpiece of film-making. The screenplay by Niklas Rådström, based on a story by Agneta Ulfsäter-Troell and director Jan Troell, is so free of the expected extended dialogues that accompany films of this nature that it allows the magic of the period piece set in early 20th century Sweden to rely on the beauty of the cinematography by Mischa Gavrjusjov and Jan Troell and the subtle and simple film score by Matti Bye (with a little help from Massenet!). Filmed in the color scheme suggestive of the distinguished Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi, never straying far from sepia tones that ignite the solitude and light of the Nordic countries, this film could probably be successful as a silent movie - that is how powerful the production is. We are told in the voice over introduction that Maria Larsson (the exceptional Finnish actress Maria Heiskanen) won a camera in a lottery and the only way she would share the strange prize would be if her boyfriend Sigfrid (Mikael Persbrandt) would marry her. The couple marries and begins a large family: Maria takes in sewing and Sigfrid works at the docks - and drinks to excess. Maria's world becomes progressively unhappy and though she continues to have children she longs for a life free of the influence of Sigfrid's alcoholism and womanizing. She finds her hidden camera and thinking to pawn it for money to support her children she seeks the advice of an older photographer Sebastian Pedersen (Jesper Christensen) who convinces her to discover the magic of photography as a means of expression and makes it possible for Maria to keep her camera and learn the art of photography. In Maria's oppressive life there is now a light as seen through the lens of her camera that allows her to sustain herself through times of social change, war (WW I), Sigfrid's imprisonment, and a clandestine love affair with the kind and caring Sebastian. The story moves slowly, like a stroll in the wintry woods, and introduces many characters whose significance grow through the film. The ending of the story is as gentle as a dream, or as an everlasting moment. It is sheer magic. For this viewer this is one of the finest films to come along in years. In Swedish and Finnish with subtitles. Highly recommended. Grady Harp