Everlasting Moments

Everlasting Moments wash over the viewer with warm sepia images in this Swedish import from master filmmaker Jan Troell. The story spans a generation, set in turn of the 20th century working class Sweden and chronicling a long suffering wife Maria and her brutish husband Sigfrid along with their ever growing family. Everlasting Moments takes in marital and labor strife and incorporates events like WWI into the mix.
The movie offers more than just an epic take on poverty and social upheaval though by making a camera that Maria wins in a lottery an essential part of the plot. It becomes apparent that photography has not infiltrated the everyday way of life especially for Maria's class like it has in modern times. Part of the film's conflict comes from Maria becoming unsettled at the way photos provoke emotional reactions. For the people of this time their memories are recorded in words or passed down as spoken family myths. It's almost too much for Maria to have the hard copy in her hand, whether it's picture of the pet cat, a moth against a window pane or her other neighbors. The Swedish title of the film is Maria Larssons eviga ögonblic or Maria Marsson's Everlasting Moments.
Just as the photograph seems to cement an image in time so is Maria's life bound by tradition. Despite herself being a teetotaler Sigfrid goes on wild drunk benders. The film gives Sigfrid some warm traits such as his devotion to horses but his home demeanor is marked by abuse and cheating. Maria begs her father to let her absolve the marriage but dear old dad (practically on his deathbed) tells Maria she must submit for the sake of her soul. Somehow Sigfrid exhibits such son of a bitch tendencies you want him to get killed in WWI, but he only gets fat on extra rations.
Troell works hands-on performing many duties on his films (cinematogrpahy, writer, director) and his guiding hand provides Everlasting Moments with thematic continuity. The changes in society are mirrored in Maria's own fortunes. Not enough of Troell's films get distributed domestically, in fact his last salvo was in the eartly 70s with The Emmigrants and The New Land, both highly lauded films.
Early on Maria takes her camera to sell to a photo studio run by the amusing and sincere Pedersen (aka Piff Paff Puff, played by Jesper Christensen who played Mr. White in the current James Bond series). Rather than buy the box Pedersen offer Maria lessons and sets her on the path of becoming a documentarian of her world. It's through this skill that Maria is able to make money for her family when Sigfrid does prison time for trying to kill her. The relation between Pedersen and Maria comes full circle in the third act although not in the way one might expect. A fully accomplished cinema experience, Everlasting Moments gives all its characters a rich emotional arc and makes a simpler era come alive even while eluding to our current obsession with collecting images.