Bille August's "A Song for Martin" is the most wrenching of love stories, for the film intimately details the trauma a disease can have on a passionate marriage. The strength of the film lies in its two central performances by Sven Wollter as the stricken composer and Viveka Seldahl as his desperate violinist wife.
The film is better made than nearly all those disease-of-the-week telefilms. Nevertheless, this doesn't make it any easier to watch. What helps, though, along with those two striking performances, is the realization that love can triumph in unexpected ways.
Martin Fischer (Wollter), a leading Scandinavian composer and conductor, and Barbara Hartman (Seldahl), first violinist in a symphony orchestra, meet well past middle age, when both are married with grown children. They fall deeply in love and, throwing all social caution to the wind, shed their spouses and wind up in Morocco on a honeymoon.
Their home becomes a center not only for their own loving and feverish creativity -- she both inspires and helps with his compositions -- but also for family gatherings that express the sheer joy of life itself.
Then Martin is struck by Alzheimer's disease. As the ugly disease tears away his identity and memory, the two initially fight the illness. He struggles to continue with his work and hide the symptoms, while she tries to maintain their life and cling to the man she married.
Then a change comes over Martin: He resists those who care for him, especially Barbara, and seemingly wants to plunge into his new "identity." Later, she comes to realize that these nasty quarrels and confrontations are her husband's last loving gift to her: He needs to push her into a new life without him and the physical demands of his care.
Wollter possesses an expressive face that is alive with intelligence and warmth in the early phases of the movie, then grows increasingly bewildered and lost as the disease takes its toll. His graceful body gradually sags into itself, a moving symbol of his inner collapse.
Seldahl goes through an even greater transition, from unspeakably happy love to fierce determination to fight the illness, then anger, sadness and finally resignation. One senses her inner struggle, the uncertainty over what course of action is best as she must act as a mother to her own husband.
To create the couple's many moments of crisis, though, August, who bases his script on Ulla Isaksson's novel, allows his heroine to act with almost foolish disregard for her husband's condition. The episodes of her leaving him alone, taking him out into the ocean and subjecting him to public appearances when he is long past such exercises make her at times almost unsympathetic.
August has created an impressive chamber work with this "Song". The pacing could have been a little quicker, as there is more than a little repetition here. But the duet at its heart has moments of melancholy lyricism. And kudos to composer Stefan Nilsson, who has penned several splendid concertos that stand for Martin's work.
A SONG FOR MARTIN
Moonlight Filmproduction
and Svenska Filmkompaniet AB
Producers: Lars Kolvig, Michael Obel
Screenwriter-director: Bille August
Based on the novel by: Ulla Isaksson
Director of photography: Jorgen Persson
Production designer: Anna Asp
Music: Stefan Nilsson
Costume designer: Katarina Kvist
Editor: Janus Billeskov Jansen
Color/stereo
Cast:
Martin: Sven Wollter
Barbara: Viveka Seldahl
Biederman: Reine Brfynolfsson
Elisabeth: Lisa Werlinder
Karin: Linda Kallgren
Running time -- 118 minutes
No MPAA rating...
The film is better made than nearly all those disease-of-the-week telefilms. Nevertheless, this doesn't make it any easier to watch. What helps, though, along with those two striking performances, is the realization that love can triumph in unexpected ways.
Martin Fischer (Wollter), a leading Scandinavian composer and conductor, and Barbara Hartman (Seldahl), first violinist in a symphony orchestra, meet well past middle age, when both are married with grown children. They fall deeply in love and, throwing all social caution to the wind, shed their spouses and wind up in Morocco on a honeymoon.
Their home becomes a center not only for their own loving and feverish creativity -- she both inspires and helps with his compositions -- but also for family gatherings that express the sheer joy of life itself.
Then Martin is struck by Alzheimer's disease. As the ugly disease tears away his identity and memory, the two initially fight the illness. He struggles to continue with his work and hide the symptoms, while she tries to maintain their life and cling to the man she married.
Then a change comes over Martin: He resists those who care for him, especially Barbara, and seemingly wants to plunge into his new "identity." Later, she comes to realize that these nasty quarrels and confrontations are her husband's last loving gift to her: He needs to push her into a new life without him and the physical demands of his care.
Wollter possesses an expressive face that is alive with intelligence and warmth in the early phases of the movie, then grows increasingly bewildered and lost as the disease takes its toll. His graceful body gradually sags into itself, a moving symbol of his inner collapse.
Seldahl goes through an even greater transition, from unspeakably happy love to fierce determination to fight the illness, then anger, sadness and finally resignation. One senses her inner struggle, the uncertainty over what course of action is best as she must act as a mother to her own husband.
To create the couple's many moments of crisis, though, August, who bases his script on Ulla Isaksson's novel, allows his heroine to act with almost foolish disregard for her husband's condition. The episodes of her leaving him alone, taking him out into the ocean and subjecting him to public appearances when he is long past such exercises make her at times almost unsympathetic.
August has created an impressive chamber work with this "Song". The pacing could have been a little quicker, as there is more than a little repetition here. But the duet at its heart has moments of melancholy lyricism. And kudos to composer Stefan Nilsson, who has penned several splendid concertos that stand for Martin's work.
A SONG FOR MARTIN
Moonlight Filmproduction
and Svenska Filmkompaniet AB
Producers: Lars Kolvig, Michael Obel
Screenwriter-director: Bille August
Based on the novel by: Ulla Isaksson
Director of photography: Jorgen Persson
Production designer: Anna Asp
Music: Stefan Nilsson
Costume designer: Katarina Kvist
Editor: Janus Billeskov Jansen
Color/stereo
Cast:
Martin: Sven Wollter
Barbara: Viveka Seldahl
Biederman: Reine Brfynolfsson
Elisabeth: Lisa Werlinder
Karin: Linda Kallgren
Running time -- 118 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Bille August's "A Song for Martin" is the most wrenching of love stories, for the film intimately details the trauma a disease can have on a passionate marriage. The strength of the film lies in its two central performances by Sven Wollter as the stricken composer and Viveka Seldahl as his desperate violinist wife.
The film is better made than nearly all those disease-of-the-week telefilms. Nevertheless, this doesn't make it any easier to watch. What helps, though, along with those two striking performances, is the realization that love can triumph in unexpected ways.
Martin Fischer (Wollter), a leading Scandinavian composer and conductor, and Barbara Hartman (Seldahl), first violinist in a symphony orchestra, meet well past middle age, when both are married with grown children. They fall deeply in love and, throwing all social caution to the wind, shed their spouses and wind up in Morocco on a honeymoon.
Their home becomes a center not only for their own loving and feverish creativity -- she both inspires and helps with his compositions -- but also for family gatherings that express the sheer joy of life itself.
Then Martin is struck by Alzheimer's disease. As the ugly disease tears away his identity and memory, the two initially fight the illness. He struggles to continue with his work and hide the symptoms, while she tries to maintain their life and cling to the man she married.
Then a change comes over Martin: He resists those who care for him, especially Barbara, and seemingly wants to plunge into his new "identity." Later, she comes to realize that these nasty quarrels and confrontations are her husband's last loving gift to her: He needs to push her into a new life without him and the physical demands of his care.
Wollter possesses an expressive face that is alive with intelligence and warmth in the early phases of the movie, then grows increasingly bewildered and lost as the disease takes its toll. His graceful body gradually sags into itself, a moving symbol of his inner collapse.
Seldahl goes through an even greater transition, from unspeakably happy love to fierce determination to fight the illness, then anger, sadness and finally resignation. One senses her inner struggle, the uncertainty over what course of action is best as she must act as a mother to her own husband.
To create the couple's many moments of crisis, though, August, who bases his script on Ulla Isaksson's novel, allows his heroine to act with almost foolish disregard for her husband's condition. The episodes of her leaving him alone, taking him out into the ocean and subjecting him to public appearances when he is long past such exercises make her at times almost unsympathetic.
August has created an impressive chamber work with this "Song". The pacing could have been a little quicker, as there is more than a little repetition here. But the duet at its heart has moments of melancholy lyricism. And kudos to composer Stefan Nilsson, who has penned several splendid concertos that stand for Martin's work.
A SONG FOR MARTIN
Moonlight Filmproduction
and Svenska Filmkompaniet AB
Producers: Lars Kolvig, Michael Obel
Screenwriter-director: Bille August
Based on the novel by: Ulla Isaksson
Director of photography: Jorgen Persson
Production designer: Anna Asp
Music: Stefan Nilsson
Costume designer: Katarina Kvist
Editor: Janus Billeskov Jansen
Color/stereo
Cast:
Martin: Sven Wollter
Barbara: Viveka Seldahl
Biederman: Reine Brfynolfsson
Elisabeth: Lisa Werlinder
Karin: Linda Kallgren
Running time -- 118 minutes
No MPAA rating...
The film is better made than nearly all those disease-of-the-week telefilms. Nevertheless, this doesn't make it any easier to watch. What helps, though, along with those two striking performances, is the realization that love can triumph in unexpected ways.
Martin Fischer (Wollter), a leading Scandinavian composer and conductor, and Barbara Hartman (Seldahl), first violinist in a symphony orchestra, meet well past middle age, when both are married with grown children. They fall deeply in love and, throwing all social caution to the wind, shed their spouses and wind up in Morocco on a honeymoon.
Their home becomes a center not only for their own loving and feverish creativity -- she both inspires and helps with his compositions -- but also for family gatherings that express the sheer joy of life itself.
Then Martin is struck by Alzheimer's disease. As the ugly disease tears away his identity and memory, the two initially fight the illness. He struggles to continue with his work and hide the symptoms, while she tries to maintain their life and cling to the man she married.
Then a change comes over Martin: He resists those who care for him, especially Barbara, and seemingly wants to plunge into his new "identity." Later, she comes to realize that these nasty quarrels and confrontations are her husband's last loving gift to her: He needs to push her into a new life without him and the physical demands of his care.
Wollter possesses an expressive face that is alive with intelligence and warmth in the early phases of the movie, then grows increasingly bewildered and lost as the disease takes its toll. His graceful body gradually sags into itself, a moving symbol of his inner collapse.
Seldahl goes through an even greater transition, from unspeakably happy love to fierce determination to fight the illness, then anger, sadness and finally resignation. One senses her inner struggle, the uncertainty over what course of action is best as she must act as a mother to her own husband.
To create the couple's many moments of crisis, though, August, who bases his script on Ulla Isaksson's novel, allows his heroine to act with almost foolish disregard for her husband's condition. The episodes of her leaving him alone, taking him out into the ocean and subjecting him to public appearances when he is long past such exercises make her at times almost unsympathetic.
August has created an impressive chamber work with this "Song". The pacing could have been a little quicker, as there is more than a little repetition here. But the duet at its heart has moments of melancholy lyricism. And kudos to composer Stefan Nilsson, who has penned several splendid concertos that stand for Martin's work.
A SONG FOR MARTIN
Moonlight Filmproduction
and Svenska Filmkompaniet AB
Producers: Lars Kolvig, Michael Obel
Screenwriter-director: Bille August
Based on the novel by: Ulla Isaksson
Director of photography: Jorgen Persson
Production designer: Anna Asp
Music: Stefan Nilsson
Costume designer: Katarina Kvist
Editor: Janus Billeskov Jansen
Color/stereo
Cast:
Martin: Sven Wollter
Barbara: Viveka Seldahl
Biederman: Reine Brfynolfsson
Elisabeth: Lisa Werlinder
Karin: Linda Kallgren
Running time -- 118 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 9/19/2001
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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