La beauté des choses

How much I regret the passing of director Bo Widerberg who can create a film such as this one with its dramatic portrayal of human problems, human relationships and human emotions. It was not so much the dialogue but more the unspoken words that grabbed my attention and held me to the end. A long silence can be filled with meaning....a stolen look, a fleeting glance, a flicker of a smile, a movement of the eye....all these subtle messages electrify the air between Viola the teacher and Stig the student in the class room. We know at once that in some magical way their lives have been drawn together and as we are caught up in the drama we seem to know that eventually the ending will not be a happy one.

Under the guise of having special coaching lessons, Stig gains entrance into his married teacher's household after his evening cinema job. Shy at first he soon experiences the delights of a continuing relationship with Viola who is a very competent teacher in all respects. Perhaps we can pardon Viola for her "cradle snatching" when we find out that her husband has taken to drink and seems almost permanently drunk.

The love scenes are sensitively handled and the remarkable changes which develop in the characters create an imposing piece of cinema. Stig seems to take on a degree of security in a scene where he accuses the husband of the impossible situation. But who is really to blame? That is the intriguing part of the film.

There are some aspects that are not explained thus the viewer becomes involved. As for the stolen encyclopaedia, why would Stig carry them off. Is he just in a vindictive mood and does it just to annoy Viola or have those volumes become special to him because they belonged to Viola.

When reading the synopsis, Bo Widerberg's film evokes understandable skepticism, but as soon as the final credits appear on the screen, and you remember everything that you literally experienced in these 2-and-a-half hours with the hero, it becomes clear that this is not an ordinary drama about romance between a student and a teacher.

The Swedish city of Malmo, at the height of World War II. The pretty middle-aged teacher Viola gets a job at the school where the main character, 15-year-old Stig, studies. These two character decide to get closer with each other, mostly due to the teacher's advances.

Of course, such a relationship is doomed from the very beginning: it goes against morality, against society. However, the actors are providing a very believable and masterful performance.

The biggest advantages of the film are in the acting, Vinderberg Jr. Is very handsome and charismatic. The film's musical accompaniment and script are also okay. I was glad to spend my time watching this film, and I remain very pleased and impressed.

Rape is rape. The "love scenes" are rape. Imagine if the genders were reversed or both the teacher an the child were male, you would see it clearly as rape. Teachers have authority and power over children and just like in the US -- in Sweden it is legally rape for a teacher in a school to have sex with a minor child who attends that school. There is no age under 18 where a minor may consent with a teacher

Again if the genders were reversed in this and it were some 35 or 40 year old guy teacher and his 15-year-old girl student would we be saying, as some reviewers here are, that the "love scenes were "tender" and "beautiful." WTF?

This was to be director Widerberg's last movie. A sweet family farewell, since his son played the lead in it. What his last words may be, as expressed in this movie, though, is hard to say. There is no clear moral in it, for which I am thankful, but a somewhat distressing observation about love: it is a close neighbor to hate, and it will not leave without vengeance.

The love affair between the school teacher and the teenage student is interesting when it starts to break up, but its beginning is too swiftly dealt with to make any sense, and its joyous, lustful phase is without depth. Only when things go awry, does the story get interesting, and the actors get to excel in their art.

The title is from a psalm, which is traditionally sung by students when they leave school for the summer break - or for good. It's a hymn to the summer and its luscious splendor - therefore, a lust of another kind, than the carnal one the movie deals with. Some Widerberg irony, no doubt.

Using his son as the student in the movie, was not that good an idea, although Johan Widerberg has a rare charisma on screen, and his own odd talent in acting. His father seems not to have been able to treat his son with the same merciless exploitation, as he was quite apt to do with other actors. So, the student is left hanging in a kind of vacuum, as if empty of his own intentions and conflicts. Things happen to him, as if he had nothing to do with them.

In this type of drama, it is important that the characters are stripped naked - well, mainly their souls, but bodies too, if need be. Widerberg manages the latter with his son, briefly, but not at all the former. When wanting to protect his son, he actually abandons him - for no other reason than the inhibitions in his own fatherhood. Johan, on the other hand, seems to be prepared to do any sacrifice necessary, to make the movie work.

I could be wrong. But the impression remains: the student's story never really gets to be told, because he is not allowed to be present, completely.

Bo Widerberg was honored in February 1997 at the Miami Film Festival with a retrospective (ELVIRA MADIGAN), and his latest (last?) film, the Oscar nominated ALL THINGS FAIR. I then saw ALL THINGS FAIR for the second time, and despite its length, enjoyed it as much or more than the first time I saw it in an arthouse theatre in Toronto. I think ALL THINGS FAIR is the great Swedish director's best, most personal film. You can't help but notice it must be autobiographical by the passion and the vivid recreation of WW II Sweden, as it was when Mr. Wideberg himself was the lead character's age. Speaking of him, the lead is the director's own 17 year old son, Johan Widerberg, who will undoubtedly carry on the family tradition in Swedish cinema history. Mr. Widerberg (Sr.) passed away last year, and among his legacy, this film stands out. It is a rare coming of age story in a setting seldom depicted on screen. Mr. Wideberg's screenplay, and direction, plus excellent performances by his son and two of Sweden's greats, Marika Lagerkrantz and Tomas van Bromssen make this a movie every European film buff should watch. It's now available on video. Check it out.