Jerusalem

Very interesting study of the effects of religion, especially cult-like Christianity, in a small Swedish town at the turn of the 20th century.

Has a great feel for time and place, and some very moving moments.

It almost becomes a great film, but – at least on 1st viewing – there was too much missing from understanding some of he characters' choices (perhaps because this was edited down from a mini-series), and a few too many melodramatic twists (again, with more time that might have felt less bothersome as they might have felt less on top of each other.)

Certainly a film I could imagine re-visiting, and would love to see the full, longer version.

Between his two works (DAS GEISTERHAUS / The HOUSE of the SPIRITS // FRÄULEIN SMILLAS GESPÜR FÜR SCHNEE / SMILLAS SENSE OF SNOW) for CONSTANTIN producer Bernd EICHINGER, the Danish director Bille AUGUST fulfilled his dream and made this Swedish film based on a novella by the Swedish Nobel Prize winner for literature Selma LAGERLÖF.

It tells the story of a small community in Sweden at the end of the 19th century, which falls into religious madness and emigrates together to the Holy Land. The young lovers Ingmar (Ulf FRIBERG) and Gertrud (Maria BONNEVIE) also get caught up in the turmoil of this religious enthusiasm, which doesn't end well...

A quiet and impressive film that is rarely seen in German-speaking countries. I remember a TV broadcast sometime in the nineties.

Pernilla AUGUST, ACADEMY AWARD nominee Max von SYDOW and ACADEMY AWARD winner Olympia DUKAKIS can also be seen in other roles.

It is a curiosity to see a Swedish film because of its quality and performance of the actors/actresses. This one is directed by Bille August, the same one of the "House of the Spirits", "Pelle Erobreren" and "Les Miserables" (1998). The religiousness of the members of the Swedish community is here shown, who once decided to go and to establish themselves in Jerusalem. Interesting scenes are in the film, one of the most convincing one is when Ingmar had sex for the first time with his wife, it was the desire of the woman to have something until that moment forbidden by his husband for her. The morale of the film could be that a couple may be in love for long, but this does not mean that they necessarily will be married, other circumstances may change the way the things were going.

I enjoyed this mature, wise view of the human existence. The movie is very involving. The story line is critical of a Christian cult, but the last scene was a glorious affirmation of tradition, family and Church. The visuals are pleasingly luminous.

Bille August is one of the world's best directors. He can get the most enchanting moments from his actors. And his "Jerusalem" is a very good example of it. Long uncut takes with only little dialog show intense and breathtaking acting skills from every actor/actress - especially Maria Bonnevie.

Examples of this are: The scene where Maria's character Gertrud is walking alone in the forest and has a vision of Jesus for the first time; and one of the last scenes in Jerusalem where she sits with her friend who tells her; "You have to forgive... otherwise you will never be able to love again." ...

If you want to see truly unique acting skills this is where you want to go.

Sadly it has not yet been released on DVD. I only have it on old VHS. Let us have a full special edition DVD soon please.