Maria Larssons eviga ögonblick (2008),directed by Jan Troell, is showing in the U.S. with the title "Everlasting Moments." It's an unusual movie, and I enjoyed it, but it's hard to describe or review.

The film takes place in Sweden, roughly between 1900 and 1920. It's more or less an "I Remember Mama"-type memoir, narrated by the oldest daughter of a married working-class couple--Maria Larsson, played by Maria Heiskanen, and Sigfrid Larsson, played by Mikael Persbrandt.

Maria Heiskanen is a very attractive actor, but this part calls for her to appear relatively plain, which she manages to accomplish. (Sort of like Betsy Blair appearing as "the dog" in "Marty.") Her husband is a basically decent sort of guy, who was considered a good catch when they married. Unfortunately, he's a mean drunk and, even when sober, he's not always the best of spouses.

What makes Maria different is that she has won a camera in a lottery, and her ability to take photographs moves the plot forward, insofar as it moves forward at all.

The film more or less meanders along, with episodes that appear realistic enough, but that don't always seem to be heading in a clear direction from beginning to middle to end. Time moves forward, and people--and the actors who portray them--get older, but the movie doesn't unfold in an "A therefore B, B therefore C" sort of way.

This is a movie to watch if you don't demand sex or action, if you don't mind a slow pace, and if you don't mind a movie that appears to be shot more in sepia than in true color. I enjoy that kind of film, so I liked "Everlasting Moments." If your tastes don't run along those lines, I'd pass it by.

Incidentally, we saw the film in a theater, but I think it would work well on a small screen.

This is the story of Maria Larsson as narrated by her oldest daughter Maja. She won a camera in a lottery and ends up marrying the charming Sigfrid Larsson. At the time, she doesn't realize that he's a volatile drunk and he starts womanizing after some time in their marriage. He's a stevedore and gets involved with socialists. She befriends photograph shop owner Sebastian Pedersen who mentors her on photography. After receiving a beating from Sigfrid, she takes her kids to her father who commands her to return to her husband. His common refrain is that a marriage is to the death and over the years, it sometimes comes close to that.

This is a Swedish film about a real marriage story based on real people. It just feels real. There is real tension and filled with real characters. It made it to the short list for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film but didn't get on the final list. This is a monument to strong women who suffered and survived.

Before the first World War, Maria Larsson, a woman with several children and a not too bright husband who drinks, is barely getting by. Life is crushing her driving out all of the color. One day she finds a camera and slowly comes back to life. Slow brooding tale of life lived is a visual treat. Shot to resemble old film and photographs the film's look changes as Maria comes to life. What was once static shots, move, what was once black and white becomes color. In its way its life as film. The look of the film, the composition of shots and creation of sequences is pure magic. There were times when the simple beauty of the images had tears rolling down my eyes. Its the cinematic parallel of the moment where the photographer who has been giving Maria chemicals and film forgiving the debt in exchange for a copy of one her photographs, its a film so beautiful that you need to possess it.(I think I'll pick this up on DVD at some point). This is a very good film, and I like it a great deal, but I'm not overly in love with it. The reason has to do with my own tastes and not those of the film. I'm not a person who tends to gravitate toward films that deal in bleak lives. Certainly things do brighten once Maria finds the camera, but at the same time its still a hard hard life. My foibles aside, I do recommend the film, especially if you can see this on a big screen with a good resolution. There are images and moments that will take your breath away.