Bo Widerberg Movies
Swedish filmmaker Bo Widerberg is best known internationally for his impressionistic romantic drama Elvira Madigan (1967). Three of his films, All Things Fair (1996), Adalen 31 (1969), and Raven's End (1964), have received Oscar nominations for Best Foreign Film. Widerberg started out as a novelist, but turned to filmmaking after writing Visionen i Svensk Film/Vision in Swedish Film (1962), a scathing criticism of Ingmar Bergman's alleged monopoly of Swedish cinema. In his treatise, Widerberg argued for films containing realistic themes dealing with earthier concerns rather than the Bergmanesque tendency to address lofty abstractions on the existence of God. In hopes of creating a "new wave" in Swedish cinema, one that addressed the seething inner lives of characters rather than their neatly unified, socially progressive exteriors, Widerberg made Barnvagnen/Baby Carriage (1963), the story of a young single and pregnant woman who chooses independence over two potential suitors. It was hailed as one of the first Swedish films to accurately portray the foibles and stresses of modern city life. His first film, Pojeken och Daken/A Boy and His Kite (1961), was a short television feature made in collaboration with Jan Troell. Widerberg claims he learned how to make films by watching the films of others and carefully analyzing each scene from back to front. He extended this meticulousness into his work and when making a film has been known to take control of every detail, even down to the color processing of each film. His next film, Kvarteret Korpen/Raven's End (1963), is said to be somewhat autobiographical and while garnering good reviews, the film's offbeat conclusion caused minor controversy. For Elvira Madigan, Widerberg combined romance with the haunting strains of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21. The film was so popular that the concerto became known as "the Elvira Madigan Theme." In 1970, Widerberg went to Hollywood to film the internationally successful Joe Hill. After releasing The Serpent's Way (1986), Widerberg did not make another feature until 1995's Lust och Fagring Stor/All Things Fair, which starred his son, Johan Widerberg. In addition to making feature films, Widerberg has also gained a reputation for his television dramas. Widerberg died on May 1, 1997, in a hospital in Angelholm, Sweden, at age 66. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi- 1963
Bo Widerberg wrote and directed this domestic drama. Thommy Berggren is Anders, who works at a factory in Malimo, but dreams of being a writer. He lives with his parents in a poor section of the city. His father is an alcoholic whose desire for upper class respectability keeps him from working class employment, while his mother struggles as a washerwoman to earn enough money for the family's survival. Anders writes a first novel that is rejected by the publisher; he turns to the girl next door for sympathy and they fall in love. When she becomes pregnant and wants Anders to marry her, he sees his life unfolding like his parents' and has to decide whether to give up hope and raise a family or to head to Stockholm for a more hopeful future. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Thommy Berggren, Keve Hjelm, (more)
- 1963
This symbolic tale of the examination of youthful moral fiber finds a young girl an expectant single parent after a series of affairs with many men. She keep the baby but dumps the father, a kindly but immature youth bent on becoming a rock & roll crooner. When she takes up with a more serious boy, he drags her down with his own series of emotional impairments. The young mother contemplates moving away from her family who remain emotionally distant while under the same roof. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Thommy Berggren, Lars Passgård, (more)
- 1965
This plodding and pretentious film finds Keve (Keve Hjelm) as a self-proclaimed cinematic genius visited by American actor Ben Carruthers (playing himself). Although Carruthers is there to appear in Hjelm's next film, the director spends his time flying his kite in beautiful Southern Sweden. Director Bo Widerberg was obviously influenced by Fellini's 8 1/2 in making the feature. The saving grace of this film are the beautifully photographed and erotic love scenes. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Keve Hjelm, Eva-Britt Strandberg, (more)
- 1967
- PG
Inspired by the famous Johan Lindstrom Saxon ballad, this Swedish film involves circus performer Elvira Madigan (Pia Degermark) and army officer Sixten Sparre (Thommy Berggren). Sparre breaks loose of the oppressive atmosphere of both the military and his tradition-bound family to conduct a passionate affair with Elvira. Aware only of one another's presence, the lovers refuse to recognize that they have stepped irreversibly on the road to tragedy. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Pia Degermark, Thommy Berggren, (more)
- 1969
Flushed with the success of his Elvira Madigan, Swedish director Bo Widerberg concocted another story of teenaged love juxtaposed with social upheaval in Adalen 31. The title refers to the 1931 worker's strike against the Adalen paper mill in Northern Sweden. As the strikers debate whether or not to use violence in pressing their complaint, the daughter of the factory owner (Marie De Geer) is impregnated by the son of a worker (Peter Schildt). The strike is "resolved" in a bloody confrontation between the laborers and government troops, resulting in the death of the boy--and, on a greater scale, the collapse of Sweden's Conservative Government. The girl ultimately opts for an abortion, which partially explains why Adalen 31 was originally given an "X" rating by the then-conservative Motion Picture Association of America. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Peter Schildt, Kerstin Tidelius, (more)
- 1971
This highly fictionalized biography chronicles the exploits leading up to the execution of the notorious labor leader. The story begins as he is seen immigrating from Sweden to the U.S. Once there he began his involvement with the Wobblies (the Industrial Workers of the World). He becomes more deeply involved with the union. Hill was never without his banjo, and soon he began to write labor songs. After working with the Wobblies for a while, Hill travelled to Utah. There he attempts to protect a woman he loved, takes the blame for a murder and is executed before a firing squad. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1974
Sweden's National Soccer Team has a new player, in this sports adventure drama. The team's star player (in real life as well as in this feature) Magnus "Mackan" Haerenstam is playing pick-up soccer with a five-year old boy, hardly paying any attention at all, when he begins to notice that the boy is good, and that he is really having to work hard to keep up with him. To his disgust, he discovers that the boy is far better at dribbling than he is. He quits the team and has the boy known as "The Butt" (Johan Bergman) take his place. One highlight for fans of soccer is soccer-star Georg "Aby" Erickson's appearance as one of the boy's teammates. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- 1976
Politics and crime cross paths in this action drama in which the police are attempting to capture alive the murderer of a police official who grievously abused his power. The official was murdered in his hospital bed, and his murderer's identity is carefully uncovered by painstaking police work. However, before long the culprit announces himself in a bold way by shooting down every policeman he sees from his rooftop perch in Stockholm. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- 1979
Romantic love between two socially disparate people binds and separates a young man and young woman in this traged based on Nobel Prize-winner Knut Hamsun's novel. In order to win the right to be invited into the house of a wealthy girl whom he loves, a miller's son struggles and becomes a writer. However, the girl's father is now deeply in debt, and needs to get her married off to a rich suitor. When the wealthy groom dies in a hunting accident, it begins to look as though the writer and his lady-love can finally be united, but it becomes apparent that she has tuberculosis. They are together for only a brief time before she dies. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Stefan Schwartz
- 1984
This suspenseful thriller by Bo Widerberg (Man On The Roof) is based on a novel by Leif G.W. Persson about two plainclothes detectives out to solve a robbery and some murders that appear to involve a corrupt government minister. The police inspectors' suspicions increase when some authorities start blocking their investigation. The setting is Christmastime in Stockholm, and as the two detectives brave the cold, their time-honored techniques of surveillance and a few chases add to the building suspense. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sven Wollter, Tomas von Bromssen, (more)
- 1986
A challenging and powerful adaptation of a novel by Torgny Lindgren, this drama objectively examines the quiet courage of impoverished people whose faith in God's word enables them to uncomplainingly endure the gross injustice inherent in their culture. Set in the 19th century in the rugged countryside of northern Sweden, the tale centers on Tea, a young woman who is forced to submit to the sexual desires of her landlord. Her situation is not unusual for the times, and whether or not the woman was married, it was considered a morally acceptable means of paying the rent in accordance with their interpretation of the Bible. If a woman refused to sleep with her landlord, she and her family would be evicted. The tale is told from her perspective. Tea was a young bride the first time her landlord Ole Karlsa came calling, and upon her return home she finds that her husband has hung himself. Over the years, Tea has borne many of Ole Karlsa's children, none of whom he officially claims. Despite her years of sexual service, she remains poverty-bound, but this has neither stolen her pride nor broken her spirit. She staunchly refuses to allow Ole Karlsa to get close to his illegitimate brood. Eventually the landowner dies and soon afterward his son Karl Orsa comes to collect his "rent." In between visits, Tea finds happiness for the first time in years when she becomes lovers with a romantic wanderer. Her joy is short-lived, for the drifter is arrested for stealing. More trouble comes when Karl Orsa decides that Tea is too old and that her oldest daughter, in accordance with the custom, must take her place. He refuses to listen to Tea's pleas that to sleep with her daughter would be incest, and this sets up a series of tragedies, all of which are stoically borne by Tea, her family and Karl Orsa (who is just as much a victim of culture as the rest). ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
A young man growing up at a difficult time enters into a relationship that only makes his life more complicated in this acclaimed coming-of-age drama. Stig (Johan Widerberg) is a 15-year-old boy growing up in Malmo, Sweden, in 1942. While WWII rages in Europe, Sweden remains politically neutral, though it's all but impossible for the people of Malmo not to have an opinion about the conflict, and Stig's own brother intends to volunteer to serve on a submarine. Stig has fallen in love with his schoolteacher Viola (Marika Lagercrantz), who is 22 years his senior. To his great surprise, Viola confesses that she's also attracted to Stig; she's stuck in a failing marriage to Kjell (Tomas von Bromssen), a depressive alcoholic salesman, and there's something in Stig's naive desire that touches her. The two become involved in a passionate love affair, which Viola makes little effort to disguise from Kjell; in fact, Kjell becomes friendly with Stig and tries to teach him about his great passion in life, classical music. Eventually, Stig becomes attracted to Lisbet (Karin Huldt), a girl from school his own age, and when they become involved, Stig breaks off his affair with Viola. Viola is not eager to give up Stig, and in time, she retaliates with violence. Lust Och Fagring Stor was the final film from noted Swedish director Bo Widerberg; he died two years after its release -- at the age of 56. Jonah Widerberg, who played Stig, is Bo's son, and was 21 at the time the film was released. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Johan Widerberg, Marika Lagercrantz, (more)
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