Product: Elvira Madigan [VHS]
Rating: 5.0
Poetic beauty
this film has a very poetic beauty about it. it was shot with an innovative (at the time) system tha played on the field - in photographic terms - and blurred the background to emphasise the faces of the very beautuful cast. The style was later copied in countless shampoo commercials of the 70's. Th story is simple and is apparently based on the real events of a noble swedish army officer who defects and escapes with a circus girl. He's also married. The story is very remiscent of Romeo and Juliet The two live blissfully and there are truly beautiful scenes of the lovers enjoying theri escape and loving life to the point that they decide not to risk seeing the end of their bliss. The music of the film also set it apart. The score is based on the Andante from Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 21 and the allegro from Vivaldi's concerto L'Amoroso. The music is extremely well suited to describe this joyous yet melancholy love story and transalates the beauty of the scenery into music. Indeed, to get a flavor of the film I suggest ordering these pieces of music first.