Movies: Everlasting moments * * * *
(15A, Limited release)
Friday May 22 2009
Swedish cinema is on something of a roll at the moment -- thanks to the success of the superior vampire fantasy Let the Right One In -- and this evocative and engaging period drama from veteran director Jan Troell is equally worthy of your time.
Finnish actress Maria Heiskanen gives a deeply affecting and wonderfully expressive performance as Maria Larsson, a put-upon housewife living, or more accurately, surviving, in the pre-suffragette early years of 20th-century Europe. Her stevedore husband, Sigfrid (Mikael Persbrandt), is a charming but brutal drunk who is regularly violent to both her and their growing brood of young children, and as he gets further drawn into the nascent socialist movement, Maria finds her own unique outlet, by way of an old Contessa camera.
With the assistance of a kind photographer friend, Maria proves to be a dab hand with the lens. Slowly, quietly, this newfound talent empowers Maria to stand up for herself and her children.
Director Troell himself has a photographer's eye, shooting the film in 16mm for a more vintage look, and framing key scenes with beautiful composition. Its attention to period detail, and measured, deliberate pace pulls you in, until it is almost impossible not to root for the heroine.
By focusing on this selection of finely-drawn characters, Everlasting Moments opens out to become a graceful, elegant, and acute portrait of a world and a culture on the brink of momentous change, as war, labour unrest and proto-feminism collide. This won't have 'em queuing around the block, but it definitely deserves greater exposure.
- Declan Cashin
