IFC Films

Maria (Maria Heiskanen) meets a photographer (Jesper Christensen) who helps her cultivate a talent for taking beautiful photos.

"Everlasting Moments" is the story of Maria Larsson, a working-class housewife and mother whose life is quietly enriched when she discovers a profound gift for photography. Director Jan Troell's well-acted and beautifully photographed film is set in early 20th-century Sweden.

Maria, played with great dignity by Maria Heiskanen, is married to a laborer with a destructive weakness for alcohol and other women. Sigfrid Larsson (Mikael Persbrandt) can be charming and kind, but when he drinks is prone to abuse his wife and children. He also has a tendency to take Maria by force when angry, a practice that by story's end has helped to produce a brood of seven children.

When not tending her children -- or birthing new ones -- Maria works as a domestic and seamstress to help the family make ends meet. She also stays with her man despite his love-killing flaws because that is what is expected of wives in pre-World War I Sweden.

Maria seeks to raise money by selling a camera that she had forgotten she owned. The potential buyer, a commercial photographer, recognizes her talent. He persuades her to keep taking pictures and offers to underwrite her expenses. The photographer, a cultured and gentle man named Sebastian Pedersen, is played by Jesper Christensen.

Under Sebastian's guidance, Maria cultivates her talent. She creates images of rare depth and beauty, whether her subject be a family pet, her own children or the dead body of one of their schoolmates.

Sigfrid is puzzled and a little frightened by his wife's new avocation, but his attempts to thwart it go nowhere. Maria is not about to relinquish this vital new facet of her identity.

Leaving him, even when a romantic possibility seems to present itself, is altogether something else. Taking pictures enriches Maria's life, but it doesn't transform it to that extent. "Everlasting Moments" doesn't seriously probe the reasons for her curious allegiance, but it certainly makes clear its power. If this be love, the film seems to say, then love is a mysterious thing.

Aside from uniformly fine acting and its rich portrayal of a complex woman, the film is notable for its arresting cinematography. It is credited both to Mischa Gavrjusjov and to director Troell himself. Their beautifully lit and painstakingly composed images, like Maria's, will last long in the viewer's memory.

"Everlasting Moments" HHHHH

In Swedish with English subtitles. At the Grandin Theatre. No MPAA rating. Two hours, 11 minutes.