Elvira Madigan DVD with Pia Degermark, Thommy Berggren, Lennart Malmer (PG) +Movie Reviews

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Elvira Madigan
Actors: Pia Degermark, Thommy Berggren, Lennart Malmer, Cleo Jensen, Nina Widerberg
Director: Bo Widerberg
Genres: Indie & Art House, Drama

PG 1999 1hr 31min

The global art-house frenzy was in full swing when Elvira Madigan first made audiences swoon back in 1967. Set in an idyllic Danish forest in 1859 and loosely based on an actual double-suicide, this lushly photographed, qu... more »ietly seductive film presents a richly romantic tragedy while suggesting that the most intense form of love resembles a kind of blissful insanity. The inseparable lovers in this case are a married Swedish army lieutenant named Sixten (Thommy Berggren) who's gone absent without leave, and the radiantly beautiful Elvira Madigan (Pia Degermark), a Danish tightrope walker who's abandoned her popular position in a traveling circus. Together they have no use for the distractions of the real world; they live only for each other, sharing simple pleasures, spontaneous intimacy, and a seemingly unlimited supply of wild berries, wine, and leisure time. As Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 dominates the soundtrack, Sixten and Elvira chase butterflies (and each other) through a peaceful meadow, at which point the movie practically oozes with romantic perfection. (When most people think of "art-house" movies of the 1960s, they're most likely thinking of movies such as this--although the lovemaking here is nothing if not tamely discreet.) Swedish director Bo Widerberg wrote, directed, and edited this film and makes full use of Jorgen Persson's soft, sensual cinematography. Though its plot is almost nonexistent, the film is arrestingly beautiful and the almost-too-attractive actors bring naturalness and depth to their performances, elevating this tale of doomed love above the level of gushy sentiment. For all of its surface appeal, Elvira Madigan is an intelligent film, and Widerberg builds toward genuine tragedy without compromising the dream-like idealism of Sixten and Elvira's unconditional love. Widerberg also inserts a few hints of casual irony, as when Elvira sells a portrait of herself that was drawn by a "cripple" at a cafe in Paris; neither she nor the pawnshop owner recognizes the artist's signature as that of Toulouse-Lautrec! These little grace notes enhance this otherwise lightweight film, and while the tragedy never achieves Shakespearean proportions, this is nevertheless an alluring, introspective portrait of romance at its most sublimely emotional extreme. --Jeff Shannon

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Movie Details

Actors: Pia Degermark, Thommy Berggren, Lennart Malmer, Cleo Jensen, Nina Widerberg
Director: Bo Widerberg
Creators: Jörgen Persson, Bo Widerberg, Peter Fernandez, Waldemar Bergendahl, Johan Lindström Saxon, Noelle Gilmour
Genres: Indie & Art House, Drama
Sub-Genres: Indie & Art House, Love & Romance
Studio: Fox Lorber
Format: DVD - Color
DVD Release Date: 03/30/1999
Original Release Date: 01/01/1967
Theatrical Release Date: 01/01/1967
Release Year: 1999
Run Time: 1hr 31min
Screens: Color
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaDVD Credits: 1
Total Copies: 0
Members Wishing: 10
MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Languages: Swedish
Subtitles: English

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Movie Reviews

The Masterpiece Of Romantic Foreign Film Tragedy

Rachel Garret | Beverly Hills | 04/17/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"1967: This Danish film became an instant classic when it was released. The stunning film is best known for its beautiful cinematography, its classical music score and its simple but elegant tragic plot. It starred Pia Degermark, a blonde, blue-eyed willowy beauty who portrayed a late 19th century tight-rope walker, who abandoned her career in the circus to elope with her lover, an army officer. The love story is very simple, quite tragic, and full of sentimentality and melodrama that seems out of place in the 60's, but nostalgically recollects the milieu of the late 19th century.The classical music score for the film included Mozart's piano concerto number 21, whose second movement is played almost ad nauseum in the film. It is a romantic, tender piece, expressive of a romance like that of the two lovers in this film. They share picnics in the outdoors, they make love al fresco, they seem to be inseperable. Mozart' piano concerto number 21 "andante" has in fact earned the concerto title of the "Elvira Madigan" concerto because of the success of this film. Other classical pieces include Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Chopin piano music and a JohannStrauss waltz.Supposedly based on a true story, the lovers find that their union is illicit, and for political reasons, enemies of theirs want for them to part. The ending, in true tragic tradition, results in the suicide of the two lovers. Nonetheless, the haunting visuals, the beautiful music and everything abou this art-house legend makes Elvira Madigan truly worth getting on DVD."

Newsweek said it was the most beautiful movie ever made.

hadgrmrk@aol.com | Lacey, Washington, USA | 09/26/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Bo Wiederberg's classic 1800's love story of a young trapese artist's ill-fated romance with an army deserter was credited by Samuel Goldwyn and Newsweek magazine as being the most beautiful movie ever made. It was the first film to use slow motion photography as a special effect and it's english language version has the best synchronization of dubbed english to lip movements of the actors that you are likely to see. Because of the quality of the film, Mozart's Piano Concerto is now commonly known as the Elvira Madigan Theme. If this movie doesn't make you girls cry, something's wrong."