Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.

Ensofter Overrated and overhyped

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

dakjets Good story about life in Sweden in the early 1900s. Here are descriptions good about growing up in the working class, and a turbulent marriage.The film is about Maria Larsson and her family. Although the film is basically a drama about how hard life could be for those who were poor at this time, it is about much more.The film is about following their dreams and how important it is to have real commitment. The protagonist is a fantastic photographer. Life is tough. There are many children as she must take care of. Despite this, we can follow her development and see how her talent evolves over several years.Good person depictions characterizes this drama. Mikal Persbrandt as always good as the rough husband. The film is told through one of their children in retrospective. It works fine.Recommended for those who enjoy good person drama, in a historic setting.

paul2001sw-1 Jan Treoll's film 'Everlasting Moments' tells the story of a poor Swedish family struggling to survive in the early years of the twentieth century; and how the family's mother copes with an abusive marriage in part through the hobby of photography. It's not a bad film per se, but it's very quiet and undramatic. Part of the problem is that the interest on photography seems arbitrary: the heroine could just as easily have found a purpose in life through a love of literature or dogs, or any of the other interests that help us find meaning in life. The heavy use of narration further undermines the sense of drama. It's based on a true story, but it's not so clear there's really much of a story to be told.

bandw Just as the opening lines of a good novel should engage and inform, so should the opening scenes of a movie. The opening scenes of this movie are close-ups of an old Contessa camera accompanied by a gentle score. But it is the opening lines:"A week after mother met father she won a camera in a lottery. Father thought that the camera should be his as he'd bought the ticket. Mother said that if he wanted to share it, he'd have to marry her. So they got married."that hooked me. We know that the story will be about a camera, a marriage, and a family--and it will be told from the point of view of a daughter. The story teller is Maja, daughter of Maria and Sigfrid "Sigge" Larsson. The movie opens in Sweden 1907 and follows the Larsson family for over a decade. The marriage is what in contemporary parlance would be called rocky. Sigfrid is a handsome man and can be likable and entertaining, but he has two big weaknesses: women and alcohol. Unfortunately he succumbs to his weaknesses all too often. This behavior, together with the fact that money is tight and the family is large, puts a mighty strain on Maria who suffers through it until one day she happens on the old camera and decides to sell it to make ends meet. The photographer she takes the camera to for the sale, Sebastian Pedersen, looks at the single photo in the camera and envisions Maria as a special person (maybe because he is attracted to her) with perhaps a special talent. He loans her the camera and offers encouragement.The essence of the movie examines how Maria's growing interest in photography affects her and her family. This is an era when women were not expected to have any interests beyond taking care of the family, and Sigge is predictably jealous of Maria's new-found interest and behaves accordingly. But he is also just a little bit fascinated. For me the crucial scene is when Maria takes the camera back to Sebastian and wants to sell it, since she recognizes that her passion for photography is disrupting her relationships with her family. One of her sons had remarked that all she seemed to want to do was take pictures. But Pedersen tells her that once a passion has been excited it cannot easily be suppressed. Maria persists.The story encompasses historical events of the times, such as strikes (Sigge is a dock worker) and communist influences. One of Sigge's friends is a follower of Kropotkin.This is beautifully filmed and nearly flawless. The period details never seem artificial. You sense that this was a labor of love on Troell's part. In fact his wife is the great niece of Maja Larsson and wrote a book based on the real life Maria Larsson as told to her by Maja.All of the actors are good but Maria Heiskanen, as Maria, delivers a powerful performance in its understated subtlety. I can hardly think of a performance by an actress that I have been more impressed with.The Criterion Collection DVD contains an excellent one-hour biography of Troell that could stand on its own as a worthy viewing experience. For being a somewhat shy person I thought Troell revealed some very intimate things about himself.I wish there were more films like this.

Howard Schumann The debate over whether photography can be considered an art form has been going on since the early 19th century, yet one thing is certain – to be successful, a photograph must combine both technical excellence and inspiration. Like most artistic endeavors, taking quality pictures can be a transforming experience. As photographer Jan Phillips stated, "There is something about this work, something healing about this search for the light." This was definitely the case for Maria (Maria Heiskanen), a beleaguered housewife in Jan Troell's lovely Everlasting Moments, who uses her camera as a means of saving her soul and probably her sanity.The film, Sweden's submission for an Oscar in 2008 for Best Foreign Film, was adapted by Troell from a novel written by his wife Agneta that was based on the life of a member of her family, Maria Larsson. Set in Sweden in the early 1900s, the real Maria's life story and photographs are shown in the film which is brimming with period detail and strong characterizations. Maria must scrape out a living sewing and cleaning to support a family of seven children while putting up with philandering and abusive husband Sigfrid (Mikael Persbrandt), who works sporadically as a laborer when he is sober. Though he joins the local Temperance Society, his will is not very strong and he repeatedly falls off the wagon.Up against repeated financial problems, Maria offers to sell the camera that she won in a lottery but is persuaded by the camera shop owner Sebastian Pedersen (Jesper Christensen) to first try and use it herself, though he agrees to purchase it in the future. Buoyed by Sebastian telling her that, "not everyone is endowed with the gift of seeing," Maria begins to take photos under Sebastian's guidance and is astonished at the wonders it performs. She begins to capture some of the everlasting moments of the film's title, using her gift of "seeing" to supplement the family income. Slowly she develops her art while having to constantly fend off Sigge's jealous tantrums.Maria takes portraits of her neighbors at Christmas, a stunning image of a recently deceased young girl lying on a table, a parade of Socialists seen from her window, a street puppeteer, and an image of the shadow of a zeppelin flying overhead. Sebastian encourages Maria to develop her skills and is ecstatic when one of her photographs is used by the local newspaper. He offers her a job in the studio but she turns it down because of her family obligations. Troell even implies that the photographer has fallen in love with her but conventions at the time do not permit its expression.The drama depicts Maria's courageous struggle to stay afloat financially when her husband is either not working or is sent to prison for drunkenness or threatening behavior towards his family. Daughter Maja (Callin Ohrvall), the film's narrator, helps the family considerably by taking care of her younger siblings and by working as a maid for a wealthy family until she is assaulted by the woman's brother. In spite of all logic and seeming common sense, she stays with Siegfried, influenced by her father's reminder of her sacred oath made during the wedding ceremony to stay together, "till death do us part." Everlasting Moments is rich in the quality of the performances, especially that of Maria Heiskanen as the courageous woman who breaks through her limitations of gender and class to experience life in a new way. Jesper Christiansen is equally strong as the devoted friend who encourages her to keep going when she wants to quit. Though Maria does not become famous or wealthy from taking pictures, her art allows her to keep up her spirits during her most difficult periods. Kudos are due to the immense talent of 78 year-old director Jan Troell, noted for The New Land and Hamsun, who, in Everlasting Moments, infuses the dark shadows of a troubled life with ineffable beauty.