Everlasting Moments (Jan Troell, 2008): Denmark | Finland | Norway | Sweden | Germany

Film Reviewed by Hannah Ghioni. Viewed at the AFI Film Festival, ArcLight Hollywood.

Everlasting Moments was an absolutely beautiful film. Filled with sorrow, love, stregnth and every emotion in between. It left my in a daze for the rest on the evening. The characters were all so strong and unique and they each brought just as much importance to the story as a whole even if the parts they played were much less apparent than some of the others.

Maria is a mother of seven and everyday works as hard as she can to keep her beloved family healthy and on task. The oldest daughter, who narrates the story is a big help to Maria, being that most of the children are considerably younger than she. Siggie, Maria’s husband is the families biggest hardship. Because even though he is the only source of income, the mother and father’s relationship is perhaps the biggest struggle in the families life. They met long ago while at a event, because they both had their eyes on one of the prizes that was being given away, and when Maria won it, Siggie asked her what he would have to do to have if for himself. It may have been love at first sight, but Maria told him that the only way to get it would be to marry her. So they got married. As time went on and the first few children were born things got much harder. Every night Maria would dread the return of her drunken husband from work. Because as he would stumble into the front room, she would have to try to hours to get him to be quiet and stop causing a ruckus. Finally one night when Siggie punched Maria in the face, she decided that that was it. She took the children to her parent’s house and when her dying father told her that God had bound her and Siggie together and that she needed to stay with him, she decided to go back. The years passed by and the only thing and Maria and Siggie remained together and ahd many more children along the way. But the problems their relationship faced were only multiplying. Siggie had began to cheat on Maria and though she suspected it, her pure devotion to her family wouldn’t allow her to do anything about it. One day though when Maria was going through old stuff she came upon the camera that she had once one a long while back. She figured that a camera as nice as this must be worth a fortune and took it into the local camera shop to have someone take a look at it. It was then that she gained an almost instant interest in two brand new things. One was her undiscovered love for photography, and the other was the man who worked at the camera shop, who never treated her with any less respect that a queen. The connection that they had was beautiful and was the most uplifting part of the film. Maria had not only found a friend in an unlikely figure, but also a hobby that would be her escape from life as she knew it.