Directed by Bo Widerberg • 1967 • Sweden
Starring Pia Degermark, Thommy Berggren, Lennart Malmer
Based on a true nineteenth-century romantic tragedy, this rapturously beautiful period drama traces the doomed affair between a teenage tightrope walker (Pia Degermark, winner of the Cannes Best Actress prize) and a young Swedish officer (Thommy Berggren) who deserts both the army and his family to be with her. As the economic precarity of their situation becomes clear, however, cold, hard reality begins to intrude upon their lovers’ idyll. The gorgeous, sun-dappled cinematography and Mozart soundtrack (the Piano Concerto no. 21, which came to be known as the “Elvira Madigan Concerto”) enhance the air of intoxicating romanticism.
Up Next in Bo Widerberg’s New Swedish Cinema
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The Baby Carriage
Directed by Bo Widerberg • 1963 • Sweden
Starring Inger Taube, Tommy Berggren, Lars PassgårdInfused with a jazzy, nouvelle vague–inspired energy, Bo Widerberg’s feature debut has the freshness of youth. Building on his film criticism’s call for a socially relevant Swedish cinema, the writer tur...
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Raven’s End
Directed by Bo Widerberg • 1963 • Sweden
Starring Tommy Berggren, Keve Hjelm, Emy StormA period piece that forgoes nostalgia in favor of a stark examination of working-class struggle, Bo Widerberg’s second feature unfolds in 1936 in the director’s hometown of Malmö. It’s there, in the poor dist...
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Ådalen 31
Directed by Bo Widerberg • 1969 • Sweden
Starring Peter Schildt, Kerstin Tidelius, Roland HedlundOne of Bo Widerberg’s most explicitly political works imbues the true story of a 1931 labor strike with a powerful contemporary resonance. In the industrial district of Ådalen, in the north of Swede...
