As an American of Norwegian ancestry I honestly approached this movie with an open mind. I was anxious to see how Norwegians lived in the 13th century. In a love story, it's vital to have actors who have chemistry on screen and make the audience feel their pain at not being able to be together. That did not happen in this movie. I simply could not get past the advanced age of all the actors. Talk about wrinkles! What made it worse was all those close up camera shots! Whoa! Back up the camera or use a filtered lens, please!
The actor who played Kristen's love interest Erlend was 45 years old when the movie was made in 1995. Did people even live that long in the 13th century? Couldn't they find someone more visually appealing like Norwegian actor Dennis Storhoi (The 13th Warrior)? Even Simon, Kristen's betrothed who was cast by the wayside was younger and more appealing than Erlend. I was kind of turned off by the fact that a worn out, middle aged man was pursuing a much younger woman (although she looked about 10 years older than her character's age). I was unable to believe the passion between them because of their huge age difference. In contrast, the actress who played Erlend's former love interest Eline was a very beautiful actress closer in age to Erlend, and she had very little screen time, yet the actress who played Kristen was very, very plain and in virtually every scene. Once I saw Eline on the screen, I could not imagine that Erlend would leave such a beautiful woman for the plain, uninteresting farm girl Kristen. Another strange thing was the creepy grin that Erlend's sidekick Ulv always had on his face. He reminded me of a pervert.
My next complaint is that the story moves along at a snail's pace at three hours. This story could have easily wrapped up in only one hour. It is claimed that at the time this movie was released in Norway, half the country went to see it. I wish I knew how many Norwegian were as disappointed as I after they paid money to see it. While I understand that there are Norwegians who loved this movie and are very proud of their hometown girl, director Liv Ullmann, they are surely a bit biased. They can't expect everyone else to share their passion for this waste of time. Liv claims to have spent one year preparing for this movie. It certainly doesn't show. Maybe she should have spend a bigger part of that year auditioning better actors instead of clearing out the local retirement home at the last minute before everyone died. This was a very disappointing film and watching grass grow may prove to be a faster and more rewarding endeavor if you have a lot of extra time on your hands.
The actor who played Kristen's love interest Erlend was 45 years old when the movie was made in 1995. Did people even live that long in the 13th century? Couldn't they find someone more visually appealing like Norwegian actor Dennis Storhoi (The 13th Warrior)? Even Simon, Kristen's betrothed who was cast by the wayside was younger and more appealing than Erlend. I was kind of turned off by the fact that a worn out, middle aged man was pursuing a much younger woman (although she looked about 10 years older than her character's age). I was unable to believe the passion between them because of their huge age difference. In contrast, the actress who played Erlend's former love interest Eline was a very beautiful actress closer in age to Erlend, and she had very little screen time, yet the actress who played Kristen was very, very plain and in virtually every scene. Once I saw Eline on the screen, I could not imagine that Erlend would leave such a beautiful woman for the plain, uninteresting farm girl Kristen. Another strange thing was the creepy grin that Erlend's sidekick Ulv always had on his face. He reminded me of a pervert.
My next complaint is that the story moves along at a snail's pace at three hours. This story could have easily wrapped up in only one hour. It is claimed that at the time this movie was released in Norway, half the country went to see it. I wish I knew how many Norwegian were as disappointed as I after they paid money to see it. While I understand that there are Norwegians who loved this movie and are very proud of their hometown girl, director Liv Ullmann, they are surely a bit biased. They can't expect everyone else to share their passion for this waste of time. Liv claims to have spent one year preparing for this movie. It certainly doesn't show. Maybe she should have spend a bigger part of that year auditioning better actors instead of clearing out the local retirement home at the last minute before everyone died. This was a very disappointing film and watching grass grow may prove to be a faster and more rewarding endeavor if you have a lot of extra time on your hands.