Word: elvira
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...Elvira Madigan tells us we should not dream of it--not on this earth anyway. It does not work. The spirit wastes away from boredom. We are men. We search for the apocalypse. And we find it at the barrel...
...blade of grass can be the world ...that the world is nothing without it." And Widerberg shows us the truth in his most masterful technical strokes. With his camera lens wide open, the depth of field is reduced, and all we can see is the blade of grass--Elvira's hair, and, in the end, the gray barrel of the pistol. The background--the rest of the world--is blurred: "When you look at the blade of grass, you can see it and nothing else. The rest of the world is blurred," says Sixten...
...story gives Widerberg a chance to play games in the trees and the grass and the flowers. At times he is successful. The mock gunfight between Sparre and his friend on a huge old tree is a beautiful tableau. When Elvira and Sparre walk up a road, the scene has the haunting quality of a Munch painting. But these two scenes are the only truly fine outdoor sequences that are properly exposed. In the rest, the greens are mercilessly washed out in white light; exposures are nearly always one to two stops...
Indoors, however, it is another matter. The yellow afternoon light filtering in through the windows creates a perfect effect. Widerberg seems more interested when he gets inside. The scene in the first hotel room is shot with a huge lens, making an unusual and effective flattening out--with Elvira, Sparre, the lamp, and the bed all in the same plane. The restaurant sequence, with Miss Degermark's face glowing gold from the slanting sunlight, is another fine piece of work...
Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 is played throughout the film. Appropriate, yes. But after a while, it gets boring. The film's real music is in the language. Swedish sounds lyrical and Widerberg uses it well, especially in the exchange between Sparre and Elvira as Sixten holds the pistol to her head, ready to shoot...