Kenneth Turan: ‘Everlasting Moments’

The great mystery of this year’s Oscar for foreign language film was not why the Japanese “Departures” won but why this exceptional Swedish film wasn’t among the five nominees. Winner of five prizes at Sweden’s academy awards, including best picture, “Everlasting Moments” is a rich, intensely human story that deals with the mysteries of creativity and love and the pain and joy of relationships. It is a film made the old-fashioned way by the veteran Jan Troell, and it has all the sureness, understanding of life and command of the medium that come with more than 40 years of filmmaking.

When Troell talks about his filmmaking choices, about where to spend “the last vestiges of his time and energy,” it is not a theoretical concern. His hand, Troell says, “must be turned to something quite extraordinary,” and with “Everlasting Moments” it definitely is.

-- Kenneth Turan