6.8 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Bound by their all-consuming desire, a young circus tightrope walker and a lieutenant with a wife and children forsake everything to be together and escape to the countryside—only to see their lovers' idyll gradually give way to poverty and desperation.
Starring: Pia Degermark, Thommy Berggren, Lennart Malmer, Cleo Jensen, Yvonne IngdalForeign | 100% |
Romance | 14% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.67:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Swedish: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of the Bo Widerberg's New Swedish Cinema collection from Criterion.
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.
Elvira Madigan is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of the Criterion Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.67:1. Criterion's insert booklet contains the following information on the transfer:
Elvira Madigan is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1. This new digital master was created in 2K resolution from the 35 mm original camera negative. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered from the 35 mm original soundtrack negative. Color was approved by cinematographer Jurgen Persson.This is a beautiful looking transfer of one of the most lyrically sumptuous films of its era. The entire almost buttery ambience of "golden hour" is documented wonderfully in some of the outdoor material, and in fact a lot of the presentation tends to favor summery yellow hues. As cinematographer Jörgen Persson perhaps kind of comically "admits" in a supplement on this disc, some of the perceived "softness" of the imagery is simply blurry focus pulling, since a lot of the outdoor material in particular was shot on the fly. That almost vérité approach leads to some incredible moments though, like the amazing scene of a ladybug being placed on Elvira's nose by a little girl. Aside from some of that self confessed softness, detail levels are nicely intact throughout the presentation, especially in closer framings where things like fabric textures on costumes can be quite pronounced. Grain resolves naturally throughout.
Elvira Madigan features an LPCM Mono track in the original Swedish. This is a nicely detailed track that offers its own version of lyricism courtesy of both that aforementioned use of Mozart music, but also some nice, if at times subtle, ambient environmental sounds in the outdoor material. There's a notable use of a certain sound effect set to a freeze frame as the film ends that reverberates well. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.
Some film fans may understandably associate mention of a 1967 film about doomed lovers with another tragic real life couple, namely Bonnie and Clyde. Elvira Madigan is, not to state the obvious, considerably less violent and considerably more lyrical than the iconic Penn outing, but in its own way it's kind of subtly subversive in how it contrasts a soap operatically doomed love affair with almost meditative surroundings. Technical merits are first rate and the supplements very enjoyable. Highly recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
近松物語 / Chikamatsu monogatari / The Crucified Lovers
1954
Adalen 31
1969
1959
Barnvagnen
1963
Kvarteret Korpen
1963
大象席地而坐 / Da xiang xi di er zuo
2018
Les amants du Pont-Neuf
1991
Luci del varietŕ
1950
The Girl of the Water / La Fille de l'eau
1925
Director's Cut
1986
Faustrecht der Freiheit
1975
I Vinti
1953
Les roseaux sauvages / Slipcover in Original Pressing
1994
1992
Sommaren med Monika
1953
Fire and Ice | Limited Edition
1962
重慶森林 / Chung Hing sam lam
1994
Anne and Muriel / Les deux Anglaises et le continent
1971
胭脂扣 / Yin ji kau
1987
Démanty noci
1964