Everlasting Moments

Everlasting Moments

US theatrical poster
Directed by Jan Troell
Produced by Thomas Stenderup
Written by Niklas Rådström
Jan Troell
Agneta Ulfsäter-Troell
Starring Maria Heiskanen
Mikael Persbrandt
Jesper Christensen
Narrated by Callin Öhrvall
Music by Matti Bye
Cinematography Jan Troell
Mischa Gavrjusjov
Edited by Niels Pagh Andersen
Distributed by Sandrew Metronome (Nordic countries)
IFC Films (US)
Icon Film Distribution (UK)
Release dates
  • 5 September 2008 (2008-09-05) (Toronto Film Festival)
  • 5 September 2008 (2008-09-05) (Sweden)
Running time
 131 minutes
Country Sweden
Language Swedish
Finnish
Budget $7 million[1]

Everlasting Moments (Swedish: Maria Larssons eviga ögonblick) is a 2008 Swedish drama film directed by Jan Troell, starring Maria Heiskanen, Mikael Persbrandt and Jesper Christensen. It is based on the true story of Maria Larsson, a Swedish working class woman in the early 20th century, who wins a camera in a lottery and goes on to become a photographer.[2] It has been compared to Troell's previous films Here's Your Life and As White as in Snow, which are both set around the same period.[3]

The film won the Guldbagge Award for Best Film and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 66th Golden Globe Awards. It also made the January shortlist for Best Foreign Language Film at the 81st Academy Awards, but wasn't selected as one of the final nominees.

Cast

Production

With financing from 26 organisations from five different countries; Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Germany; the film was Troell's largest project since The Emigrants in the early 1970s.[4] Agneta Ulfsäter-Troell, Jan Troell's wife, started doing research and interviews in 1986 with Maja Larsson, Maria Larsson's daughter, who was a cousin to Ulfsäter-Troell's father. During her research she found Maria's pictures, which were used as inspiration for the pictures seen in the film. The material wasn't organized, but when a person at the Swedish Film Institute heard about the story and how Jan Troell was interested in turning it into a film, an early process for a manuscript was started.[5]

The first official meeting took place in early 2004. Troell said that the casting choice of Maria Heiskanen and Jesper Christensen, both of whom had starred in Troell films previously, had always been "obvious."[6] Two years before filming started, Troell met Mikael Persbrandt at a film festival in Sweden and started to imagine him in the role of Sigfrid. Persbrandt then contacted Troell himself and persuaded him into giving him the role.[7] A major difference between the film and the actual story is that the real Maria Larsson lived in Gothenburg, while the film takes place in Malmö, where Jan Troell himself comes from.[8]

Filming took place between 26 February and 1 June 2007 in Malmö and Luleå, Sweden,[9] and Vilnius, Lithuania.[10] The film was shot on 16 mm film, and then blown up to 35 mm. "Then you get a little grainy picture that fits the turn of the [20th] century era and also relates to the early silent cinema. I have deliberately kept the colours down and used similar sepia tones as those in for example Victor Sjöström's films," Troell explains this idea.[3]

Release

The film premiered as part of the Masters selection at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival.[11] On 24 September the same year it was released in Sweden.[12] IFC Films aqcuired the American distribution rights and gave the film a limited release on 6 March 2009. At its peak it was running in 30 theatres during the same weekend.[13] It was released in the United Kingdom on 22 May 2009 through Icon Film.[14] A US DVD and Blu-ray was released in June 2010 through The Criterion Collection, as part of a collaboration between The Criterion Collection and IFC Films.[15]

Reception

The film has a 91% "fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes based on 97 reviews, with an average rating of 7.5 out of 10.[16] The average rating from 21 reviews collected at the Swedish-language site Kritiker.se was 4.0 out of 5.[17]

Awards and nominations

In addition to the awards and nominations, Everlasting Moments was also Sweden's submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 81st Academy Awards.[18] It was among the nine films that made it to the January shortlist, but wasn't selected as one of the final nominees.[19]

Award Category Name Outcome
66th Golden Globe Awards Best Foreign Language Film Nominated
Guldbagge Awards[20][21] Best Film Thomas Stenderup Won
Best Actress Maria Heiskanen Won
Best Actor Mikael Persbrandt Won
Best Supporting Actor Jesper Christensen Won
Special Achievement - Best Music Matti Bye Won
Best Direction Jan Troell Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Amanda Ooms Nominated
Best Screenplay Niklas Rådström, Jan Troell and Agneta Ulfsäter-Troell Nominated
Best Cinematography Jan Troell and Mischa Gavrjusjov Nominated
Valladolid International Film Festival Best Actress Maria HeiskanenWon
Best Director of Photography Jan Troell and Mischa Gavrjusjov Won
Golden Spike Jan Troell Nominated

References

  1. ↑ EVERLASTING MOMENTS: Characters unfold
  2. ↑ Trust Film Sales
  3. 1 2 Gustafsson, Annika (21 June 2008). "Jan Troell hyllar fotot och familjen." (in Swedish) Sydsvenskan. Retrieved on 12 February 2009.
  4. ↑ Mälarstedt, Kurt. (2 June 2007) "Jan Troell jagar de eviga ögonblicken." (in Swedish) Dagens Nyheter. Retrieved on 12 February 2009.
  5. ↑ Ulfsäter-Troell, Agneta. Förlaget Ulfsäter-Troell. (in Swedish) Retrieved on 12 February 2009.
  6. ↑ Gentele, Jeanette (31 January 2007) "Jan Troell satsar stort igen." (in Swedish) Svenska Dagbladet. Retrieved on 14 May 2009.
  7. ↑ Sundholm, Magnus (11 January 2009) "– Jag är bra på att förlora." (in Swedish) Aftonbladet. Retrieved on 14 May 2009.
  8. ↑ Bengtsson, Hans (27 August 2008) "Troell västerut med nya filmen." (in Swedish) Skånska Dagbladet. Retrieved on 14 May 2009.
  9. ↑ Maria Larssons eviga ögonblick - Inspelningsplatser at the Swedish Film Institute
  10. ↑ Thorsén, Tjerstin (17 May 2006) "Troell gör ny film." (in Swedish) Helsingborgs Dagblad. Retrieved on 14 May 2009.
  11. ↑ (2008-07-10) "Toronto | more films to Masters and World Cinema sections." Variety. Retrieved on 2009-09-06.
  12. ↑ Maria Larssons eviga ögonblick - visningar (in Swedish). Swedish Film Institute. Retrieved on 2009-09-06.
  13. ↑ Everlasting Moments - Weekend Box Office. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2009-09-06.
  14. ↑ (2009-05-22) "Awaydays breaks UK, Spain sees Good." Screen Daily. Retrieved on 2009-09-06.
  15. ↑ Kay, Jeremy (2009-09-01) "IFC Films teams up with Criterion Collection for prestige DVD series." Screen Daily. Retrieved on 2009-09-06.
  16. ↑ Everlasting Moments at Rotten Tomatoes
  17. ↑ Maria Larssons eviga ögonblick (in Swedish). Kritiker.se.
  18. ↑ Kuprijanko, Alexander (2008-09-16) "Sveriges Oscarshopp står till Jan Troell." (in Swedish) Sydsvenskan. Retrieved on 2009-05-24.
  19. ↑ (13 January 2009) "9 Foreign Language Films Advance in 2008 Oscar Race." Oscar.org. Retrieved on 14 May 2009.
  20. ↑ 2008 års Guldbaggevinnare. Swedish Film Institute. (Swedish)
  21. ↑ 2008 års Guldbaggenomineringar. Swedish Film Institute. (Swedish)

External links

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