Plantiana Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

grantss Emotional, engaging drama.Set in Sweden in the early-1900s, the story of married couple, Maria (played by M0aria Heiskanen) and Sigfrid (played by Mikael Persbrandt), and their children. He is a drunk and abusive. She can definitely do a lot better, yet she sticks with him. Then she discovers photography...Interesting story, and often a harrowing ordeal. Quite frustrating at times, especially every time his darker and jealous side is revealed and she still stays with him. Does move slowly though, and the path it takes does seem a bit watered down. However, the final scenes are quite emotional, and do provide a fitting conclusion and a good point to the movie.

Roedy Green This is a story of a woman who lives in 1907 in Sweden, married to an abusive, philandering, jealous, alcoholic husband. It is although you took a trip through a time machine. Everything in the grim poverty seems completely real. It has none of that brand-new shininess that period pieces usually have were every building, piece of clothing, car and house is gleaming. She has 7 angelic children. This seems odd since neither of the parents are particularly good looking. An one point we are told we are now 5 years later. Yet the children, replaced by different actors, looked about 14 years older. That was the only time the illusion of reality was broken.Her life is a grind, just barely making do by taking photographs and sewing. It has a surprise happy ending, but even that is snatched away by the grim realities of life in poverty.The children are smug Christians, quick to condemn for breaking biblical commandments. They are quite obnoxious little Puritans.So much goes on in the background. It bit like living in the neigbourhood.The movie is made up of daily small events, one after the other, with a slow heavy pace.My review gives no hint why the movie is so good. It the opposite of Hollywood, the opposite of contrived, the opposite of make believe.

Syl 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.

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.