En Sång för Martin

Rating:
Summary: Incredible love story, realistic
Review: *****
Unlike other reviewers, I did not see this film as depressing. That said, it is not easy to watch. It is realistic, about a powerful accomplished man who gradually disappears into his own world with Alzheimer's disease, and how this affects the love of his life who becomes his caretaker. It is poignant, and unusual, as it is rare to see love stories between older people that are portrayed realistically with the couple as having the same desires, passions, and needs as the young.

The story is not told along a physical time line (so you don't know how many months or years intervene in the story) but along an emotional time line, so that you watch as one loss after another occurs, a gradual dying instead of a sudden one. At the same time the love between the two falters, but recovers, and never dies. This is why I don't find the movie depressing. It is about the power of love.

If you have ever had losses in a relationship you will enjoy this film. Or, of course, if you live with someone with Alzheimer's. Or if you are in a relationship with someone who is mentally ill. Or if you just want to see a story of "true love", but a realistic "true love". It shows the loneliness, the isolation, and too, the triumph of love. It reminds us of what is truly important.

A previous reviewer said that this was a Norwegian movie; I had thought it was Swedish. At any rate, it is Scandinavian, with English subtitles. Instead of finding this annoying, the language seemed charming to me. The director's comments in the version I watched were in English and very interesting. I watched the whole film once, and then a second time with the director's comments, something I've only done twice before in my life. This is a film I will treasure forever and I am so glad I own.
*****


Rating:
Summary: Powerful, sad, and compelling
Review: A super-depressing, but well acted, and very engrossing Swedish drama about an late-middleaged couple struggling with the husband's sudden onset of Alzheimer's-based dementia. They are both high-level musicians, and the love of art intertwines their love for life, and each other. This film is very good and certainly worth watching (it's more of a European art film than an American-style disease-of-the-month flick), but it is definitely a big old downer, so be prepared.

Rating:
Summary: Powerful, sad, and compelling
Review: A super-depressing, but well acted, and very engrossing Swedish drama about an late-middleaged couple struggling with the husband's sudden onset of Alzheimer's-based dementia. They are both high-level musicians, and the love of art intertwines their love for life, and each other. This film is very good and certainly worth watching (it's more of a Eurpoean art film than an American-style disease-of-the-month flick), but it is definitely a big old downer, so be prepared.

Rating:
Summary: Super stars!
Review: Hi, it's the one of the best movies I have seen. Firstly I saw 1 year ago on International Film Festival in Karlovy Vary 2001 (Czech republic). There were a world premiere. Congratulate. ;-)

Rating:
Summary: Powerful, Honest, Almost Too Real . . .and A Love Story?
Review: It's easy to imagine how this film would be "tamed" in an American remake; the lovers would NOT be in their 50's, they would NOT be classical musicians; the illness that takes over their lives would NOT be irreversible and it would NOT be shown in such breadth. If you've ever known someone who has wound up as a full-time caregiver - or have been there yourself - this is a VERY harrowing film and maybe TOO chock-full of reality. At first the film looks like it's going to be pretty glamorous; a well-known composer/conductor and a violinist - both with grown familes -have an affair. They chose to end their marriages, marry each other and set off happily as a musical team. Now, the DVD info hints that some sort of crisis will test their love, so when the composer has a sort of "episode" while shaving, I thought, "Ahah! Some sort of stroke thing and she will fight for her man and their love will save the day, wisdom will be gained and Life Lessons learned." Wrong. We're in Bergman territory here and the diagnosis is distressingly bad news and there will NOT be a recovery. And this news comes early in the film! What follows is a quiet depiction of a man slowly fading into himself and a woman who does everything possible to hold onto him for as long as she can, uncomplainingly and almost matter-of-factly, and to just "be there" for him. This is a love story, if you can believe that, and without gushy, weepy scenes or many outwardly spectacular displays. It's not a depressing film because the tragedy is so "conversational" and always held in check. You never say while watching this, "Man, how does she put up with it?" because, without a single Big Deal Speech, you see that love/devotion/whatever is SUPPOSED to work like this. Imagine a "Rainman" remake by Ingmar Bergman and you'll get the idea. There's a nonchalant nobility to the lead actress's actions. The film spends little time in hospitals and the lead actors are amazing. This film is not a slow descent into Hell; it's more of a slow stroll through a situation that seems unsurvivable and yet is survived. Incredible film, but not for the fainthearted. Still, I now have a clearer idea of why a person wouldn't just hand an incurable/terminal person over to the doctors and how "coping" works out here in the real world.

This film - subtitled and with director's commentary - has been released on DVD with the title "A Song for Martin."

Rating:
Summary: Powerful, Honest, Almost Too Real . . .and A Love Story?
Review: It's easy to imagine how this film would be "tamed" in an American remake; the lovers would NOT be in their 50's, they would NOT be classical musicians; the illness that takes over their lives would NOT be irreversible and it would NOT be shown in such breadth. If you've ever known someone who has wound up as a full-time caregiver - or have been there yourself - this is a VERY harrowing film and maybe TOO chock-full of reality. At first the film looks like it's going to be pretty glamorous; a well-known composer/conductor and a violinist - both with grown familes -have an affair. They chose to end their marriages, marry each other and set off happily as a musical team. Now, the DVD info hints that some sort of crisis will test their love, so when the composer has a sort of "episode" while shaving, I thought, "Ahah! Some sort of stroke thing and she will fight for her man and their love will save the day, wisdom will be gained and Life Lessons learned." Wrong. We're in Bergman territory here and the diagnosis is distressingly bad news and there will NOT be a recovery. And this news comes early in the film! What follows is a quiet depiction of a man slowly fading into himself and a woman who does everything possible to hold onto him for as long as she can, uncomplainingly and almost matter-of-factly, and to just "be there" for him. This is a love story, if you can believe that, and without gushy, weepy scenes or many outwardly spectacular displays. It's not a depressing film because the tragedy is so "conversational" and always held in check. You never say while watching this, "Man, how does she put up with it?" because, without a single Big Deal Speech, you see that love/devotion/whatever is SUPPOSED to work like this. Imagine a "Rainman" remake by Ingmar Bergman and you'll get the idea. There's a nonchalant nobility to the lead actress's actions. The film spends little time in hospitals and the lead actors are amazing. This film is not a slow descent into Hell; it's more of a slow stroll through a situation that seems unsurvivable and yet is survived. Incredible film, but not for the fainthearted. Still, I now have a clearer idea of why a person wouldn't just hand an incurable/terminal person over to the doctors and how "coping" works out here in the real world.

This film has also been released - with variable subtitle options and director's commentary - on DVD under its original Norwegian title, "Ein Sang for Martin."