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All Things Fair

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ALL THINGS FAIR (Lust och fägring stor) turned out to be brilliant Swedish writer/director Bo Widerberg's elegy: after a long history of successful and emotionally captivating films, this film was his last. Watching again some twelve years later gives an entirely different level of appreciation for Widerberg's work. This is a little jewel of a film explores human sexuality at the time of puberty and the enormous impact on the way relationships are viewed, while at the same time it presents a keen insight to the world at war and the equally monstrous side effects in myriad ways.

Malmö, Sweden, 1943. A highschool class of boys is discovering the mysteries of body changes and all-consuming effects puberty has one young teenage men. Outside the classroom World War II threatens and inside the classroom puberty threatens. 15 year old Stig (Johan Widerberg) is a handsome, curious lad from a poor family who discovers his first female attraction in the form of his new 37 year old teacher Viola (Marika Lagercrantz), who, despite the impropriety of the situation added to the fact that she is married to a traveling salesman Kjell (Tomas von Brömssen) who spends his idle hours drinking and listening to classical music in the kitchen, returns the seductive dance and soon the two are in a physically involved affair. The beauty and fresh novelty of their feelings is captured in the most magical way with little dialog, many embarrassed glances, and significant risks that eventually include Kjell's discovery of their trysts. But as the two are discovered many changes occur: Stig's beloved soldier brother Sigge (Björn Kjellman) finally goes off to submarine warfare, Viola becomes less involved and senses the problem she has created, Stig falls under the spell of the tragic Kjell learning music and more from this pathetic man, and Stig finally must face the realities of more proper attraction to Lisbet (Karin Huldt) a girl his own age.

The actors are superb, the settings are atmospheric, and the era of the 1940s Sweden is perfectly represented. Part of the joy of the film is the musical score that varies from a Handel aria during moments love making, to Brahms' 'Ein Deutsches Requiem', to Mahler's 5th Symphony 'Adagietto', to Beethoven's 'Grosse Fugue.' Widerberg makes it all work in a misty yet sensuous manner. It is a film to own and one to watch often. In Swedish with English subtitles. Grady Harp, November 07

This is supposed to be a story about an affair between a high school student and his teacher. The events, feelings and interactions that make up that story are just as real as the other things in this movie, yet the movie gives us only brief glimpses of this relationship which add up to a total of maybe five minutes of this two-hour movie. Such a one-sided selection cannot be justified merely on the grounds of realism.

And since even a Swedish film cannot include everything that must have occurred in the character's life during these months, selection has to occur, and that means that some criteria have to be used to make the selections. There is no excuse for including a ten-minute drunken ramble by the husband. There is also no excuse for spending time on Stig's job at the movie theater. Even if they did not come at the expense of the main story (of the relationship), they would not be justified.

On the plus side, the glimpses we do get of the relationship (brief as they are) are effectively done. There is no teasing with the camera (except for the extreme brevity of the nude glimpses).

Also, the handling of the teenage girl was well done and was probably the most moving aspect of this long film.

Bottom line: it's worth watching if you can get it on a rental or borrow it from a friend.

This is a story about an affair between a young boy student and his pretty teacher. Every so often, you read similar stories in the news in the U.S. but Hollywood (unlike European directors) is generally concerned about producing such movies. It's a very sensitive subject and illegal in many areas. Interesting but strictly for mature audience.

Set in Malmo, Sweden, in the final days of WW II, Academy Award® nominated ALL THINGS FAIR from director Bo Widerberg (ELVIRA MADIGAN) is the sexually charged coming-of-age love story of Stig and Viola. Problem is, Stig's a boy and Viola's his teacher. Naturally, their consuming affair quickly spins out of control setting the stage for a final confrontation between a very young man who knows he has to break off a dangerous relationship with a beautiful woman who he realizes is clearly out of control. Widerberg's lavishly photographed, semi-autobiographical, last film (he died of stomach cancer in 1977) is a very personal, mature reflection on his first sexual relationship. This erotic epitaph is a reminder that he was once fully alive.

"All Things Fair" is a very good movie that might suffer somewhat because it may have tried to say too much for one film. I knew that it would be a bit ribald from the brief synopsis I had read. It is that (and, at one point, an example that European movies have less taboos that even present-day US cinema does). However, this is also a movie that seeks to understand rather than just being a Swedish "Porky's". Our 15 year old hero (and he IS an heroic character) is faced with many challeges that makes him seem more like Sonny in "The Last Picture Show". His ability to comprehend the nature of the people he interacts with is a comment on the director rather than a 15 year old boy. Indeed. it is director Bo Widerberg's vision that makes this film a worthwhile experience. He gives us the puberty-crazed boys and all their antics along with adults who have difficulties facing their realities. The blending of humor and pathos left me with a sense of enlightenment.

I have seen better movies than "All Things Fair" but I've enjoyed every movie I've seen that was as good as "All Things Fair". It is a bit shocking at times but it is, ultimately, a very endearing movie.

This is a great drama set around WW11. Emotional and sensual and depicting extremely well the ambience of the times. It was the last film made by the director who died a couple of years later.

a swedish middle school student was seduced by his teacher and start a love affair. when the affair ended, the teacher was being rather nasty. but it didn't matter because the war started. the student's older brother died in a u-boat.

for a movie, the subject is rather great. but if it were in real life, it would've been another scandal in the news...

much more interesting than your run-of-the-mill coming of age story. complex, with precision editing. could become a cult classic.

I am just happy that this film is on DVD. Rent the film and watch it and see if you'd get a copy of your own. Recommended for art film lovers.

All Things Fair (Lust och fägring stor)
--1995, Best Foreign Language Film, Academy-Nominee
--1996, Blue Angel Award for Best European Film, Berlin International Film Festival
--1996, Silver Bear - Special Jury Prize, Berlin International Film Festival