Kaj Larsen Movies

Renowned actress-turned-director Liv Ullmann helms this bleak, nuanced film about marriage and betrayal penned by legendary filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. The story is straightforward -- Marianne Vogler (Lena Endre) is a beautiful actress who is married to Markus (Thomas Hanzon), whose job as an orchestra conductor requires numerous concerts abroad, and who dotes on their young daughter Isabelle (Michelle Gylemo). Yet when Marianne has an affair with family friend David (Kirster Henriksson), a film director with a volcanic temper and little regard to those around him, the fallout destroys the marriage and brings grief and suffering to all involved, particularly Isabelle. Ullman and Bergman frame this plot with a tale about an elderly director named Bergman (Erland Josephson, who played opposite Ullman in Bergman's landmark Scenes from a Marriage) who is trying to write a script about infidelity. In his austerely decorated house on a remote island, Bergman invites an actress, who may or may not be a figment of his imagination, to breathe life into the character of Marianne. The actress tells Bergman of Marianne's story through flashbacks. One evening, on the closing night of the play that Marianne was in -- and while Markus is abroad -- David arrives for dinner with her and ultimately sleeps, platonically, in her bed. This unplanned intimacy soon leads to a full blown affair, including a three week romantic getaway to Paris. When Markus finally discovers the couple in flagrante delicto, he demands an immediate divorce and custody of their daughter. This film was screened in competition at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

This is the fourth in a series of films based on the police detective novels of Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo. In this story, the police only have one witness to a series of crimes which have electrified the country, the rape and murder of a number of beautiful young women. Unfortunately, the witness is not terribly willing to come forward to assist the police since he is wanted in conjuction with the violent robberies he has committed. The police are assisted in their investigations by a beautiful psychologist (Magdalena Ritter), who helps them get a bead on both perpetrators. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this drama, based on a stage play by Agneta Pleijel, an entire family, including grandparents, their children, and the grandchildren (and their lovers, husbands and wives) have gathered to celebrate the family matriarch's birthday. In this dialogue-heavy production, the celebration provides the discontented family members with an opportunity to voice their complaints about their lives and against one another as loudly as possible. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide