Bo Widerberg's New Swedish Cinema Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.5

Bo Widerberg's New Swedish Cinema Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 27, 2024

Any conversation about Swedish film in the sixties is bound to be dominated by the titanic figure of Ingmar Bergman, but there were other Swedish filmmakers working during that decade, of course, and as is alluded to on the back cover of Criterion's four disc collection of films by Bo Widerberg as well as some on disc supplements included in the set, there was an undeniable bit of a "Bergman backlash" at work in some of Widerberg's offerings in particular. Widerberg will probably be best remembered by Western audiences for 1967's Elvira Madigan, a film which escaped the confines of neighborhood "art houses" to become a worldwide cinema phenomenon, one which, among other achievements, managed to get a theme by some guy named Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart or something like that significant radio airplay (including making the Top 40 on Billboard's so-called "Easy Listening" charts), courtesy of its haunting use of part of a "Wolfie" piano concerto as a leitmotif. While some cineastes may want to quibble with the back cover's further assertion that the fact that Widerberg's films merge "social realist themes" that focus on "the struggles of ordinary people" somehow sets him apart from Bergman, those same cineastes may find that very description of Widerberg's oeuvre a questionable thesis in and of itself to begin with (for example, was Elvira Madigan, a 19th century circus tightrope performer, an "ordinary person"?). All of this said, Widerberg's films are nonetheless markedly different in both tone and presentational aspects from Bergman's monolithic work, and the four films aggregated in this collection are all fascinating viewing experiences in their own ways.

For reviews of the films in this collection, please click on the following links:

The Baby Carriage Blu-ray review

Raven's End Blu-ray review

Elvira Madigan Blu-ray review

Ådalen 31 Blu-ray review

Bo Widerberg's New Swedish Cinema Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Video quality of each film is assessed in the above linked reviews.

Bo Widerberg's New Swedish Cinema Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Audio quality of each film is assessed in the above linked reviews.

Bo Widerberg's New Swedish Cinema Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Supplements on each disc are detailed in the above linked reviews. Additionally, Criterion provides another very nicely appointed insert booklet, with separate synopses for the films, an essay by Peter Cowie, a reprint of part of Bo Widerberg's infamous "manifesto", and technical information on the masters.

Bo Widerberg's New Swedish Cinema Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This is a really worthwhile quartet of films that may not completely dispel the "shadow" of Ingmar Bergman, but which certainly prove how powerful other contemporaries of Bergman in the Swedish film industry could be. Technical merits are generally great, and as usual Criterion has included some very appealing supplements. Highly recommended.