Sign In / Sign Up

Elvira Madigan

Elvira Madigan
Release date: 1967-04-24
Rating: 6.8
Votes: 46
Genres: Drama, Romance, History
Bound by their all-consuming desire, a young circus tightrope walker and a lieutenant forsake everything to be together and escape to the countryside—only to see their lovers’ idyll gradually give way to poverty and desperation.

Reviews

CinemaSerf

CinemaSerf

It’s odd that a film of this story has never been made in English because it’s got to be one of the most touching and poignant love stories. Set amidst the brilliant light and lush meadows, we encounter the wealthy young lieutenant “Sixten” (Thommy Berggren) who is happily married with two young children. Until, that is, he meets acclaimed tightrope walker “Hedvig” aka “Elvira” (Pia Degermark) with whom he falls helplessly in love. He can think of no-one else and in case you’re wondering - she reciprocates. Now it doesn’t take a genius to figure that in 19th century Sweden, handsome aristocratic soldiers could get away with much but not with abandoning their posts, their family and heading off into the sunset with a women of, at best, disreputable status - so the choices they must make will make their lives difficult, if not impossible, as he discovers he has little practical skills at anything and both are shunned by a disapproving society. The question is that ultimate “can true love conquer all” type thing, and to be honest there’s not an whole load of substance to the story, but the denouement is really quite a potent (and slightly ambiguous) scene and given the whole thing is supported by plentiful gorgeous photography accompanied by some gentle Mozart and Vivaldi, this is a gently unfolding story that might soften even the hardest of hearts as the grass pollen glistens in the sunlight and beautiful people try to live on their own terms.

Movie Recommendation

  • 20th Century Women
    20th Century Women
    2016-12-28
    In 1979 Santa Barbara, California, Dorothea Fields is a determined single mother in her mid-50s who is raising her adolescent son, Jamie, at a moment brimming with cultural change and rebellion. Dorothea enlists the help of two younger women – Abbie, a free-spirited punk artist living as a boarder in the Fields' home and Julie, a savvy and provocative teenage neighbour – to help with Jamie's upbringing.
    More...
  • The Spirit of the Beehive
    The Spirit of the Beehive
    1973-10-08
    In 1940, in the immediate aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, a young girl living on the Castilian plain is haunted after attending a screening of James Whale's 1931 film Frankenstein and hearing from her sister that the monster is not dead, instead existing as a spirit inhabiting a nearby barn.
    More...
  • Oppenheimer
    Oppenheimer
    2023-07-19
    The story of J. Robert Oppenheimer's role in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II.
    More...
  • Zack Snyder's Justice League
    Zack Snyder's Justice League
    2021-03-18
    Determined to ensure Superman's ultimate sacrifice was not in vain, Bruce Wayne aligns forces with Diana Prince with plans to recruit a team of metahumans to protect the world from an approaching threat of catastrophic proportions.
    More...
  • Ex Machina
    Ex Machina
    2015-01-21
    Caleb, a coder at the world's largest internet company, wins a competition to spend a week at a private mountain retreat belonging to Nathan, the reclusive CEO of the company. But when Caleb arrives at the remote location he finds that he will have to participate in a strange and fascinating experiment in which he must interact with the world's first true artificial intelligence, housed in the body of a beautiful robot girl.
    More...
  • Parasite
    Parasite
    2019-05-30
    All unemployed, Ki-taek's family takes peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks for their livelihood until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.
    More...
  • Joker
    Joker
    2019-10-01
    During the 1980s, a failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City while becoming an infamous psychopathic crime figure.
    More...
  • All Quiet on the Western Front
    All Quiet on the Western Front
    2022-10-07
    Paul Baumer and his friends Albert and Muller, egged on by romantic dreams of heroism, voluntarily enlist in the German army. Full of excitement and patriotic fervour, the boys enthusiastically march into a war they believe in. But once on the Western Front, they discover the soul-destroying horror of World War I.
    More...
  • The Two Popes
    The Two Popes
    2019-11-27
    Frustrated with the direction of the church, Cardinal Bergoglio requests permission to retire in 2012 from Pope Benedict. Instead, facing scandal and self-doubt, the introspective Pope Benedict summons his harshest critic and future successor to Rome to reveal a secret that would shake the foundations of the Catholic Church.
    More...
  • PK
    PK
    2014-12-18
    A stranger in the city asks questions no one has asked before. Known only by his initials, the man's innocent questions and childlike curiosity take him on a journey of love, laughter and letting go.
    More...
  • The Shawshank Redemption
    The Shawshank Redemption
    1994-09-23
    Imprisoned in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden. During his long stretch in prison, Dufresne comes to be admired by the other inmates -- including an older prisoner named Red -- for his integrity and unquenchable sense of hope.
    More...
  • Julieta
    Julieta
    2016-04-08
    The film spans 30 years in Julieta’s life from a nostalgic 1985 where everything seems hopeful, to 2015 where her life appears to be beyond repair and she is on the verge of madness.
    More...
  • The Seed of the Sacred Fig
    The Seed of the Sacred Fig
    2024-09-18
    Investigating judge Iman grapples with paranoia amid political unrest in Tehran. When his gun vanishes, he suspects his wife and daughters, imposing draconian measures that strain family ties as societal rules crumble.
    More...
  • Inception
    Inception
    2010-07-15
    Cobb, a skilled thief who commits corporate espionage by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets is offered a chance to regain his old life as payment for a task considered to be impossible: "inception", the implantation of another person's idea into a target's subconscious.
    More...
  • Fight Club
    Fight Club
    1999-10-15
    A ticking-time-bomb insomniac and a slippery soap salesman channel primal male aggression into a shocking new form of therapy. Their concept catches on, with underground "fight clubs" forming in every town, until an eccentric gets in the way and ignites an out-of-control spiral toward oblivion.
    More...
  • 12 Angry Men
    12 Angry Men
    1957-04-10
    The defense and the prosecution have rested and the jury is filing into the jury room to decide if a young Spanish-American is guilty or innocent of murdering his father. What begins as an open and shut case soon becomes a mini-drama of each of the jurors' prejudices and preconceptions about the trial, the accused, and each other.
    More...
  • Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
    Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
    2019-07-24
    Los Angeles, 1969. TV star Rick Dalton, a struggling actor specializing in westerns, and stuntman Cliff Booth, his best friend, try to survive in a constantly changing movie industry. Dalton is the neighbor of the young and promising actress and model Sharon Tate, who has just married the prestigious Polish director Roman Polanski…
    More...
  • Companion
    Companion
    2025-01-22
    During a weekend getaway at a secluded lakeside estate, a group of friends finds themselves entangled in a web of secrets, deception, and advanced technology. As tensions rise and loyalties are tested, they uncover unsettling truths about themselves and the world around them.
    More...
  • Eden Lake
    Eden Lake
    2008-09-12
    When a young couple goes to a remote wooded lake for a romantic getaway, their quiet weekend is shattered by an aggressive group of local kids. Rowdiness quickly turns to rage as the teens terrorize the couple in unimaginable ways, and a weekend outing becomes a bloody battle for survival.
    More...
  • Flow
    Flow
    2024-08-29
    A solitary cat, displaced by a great flood, finds refuge on a boat with various species and must navigate the challenges of adapting to a transformed world together.
    More...

Similar Movies