"If Music Be the Food of Love" is a 1980 Norwegian "sax film" (a story of a young man and his saxophone) which tries very hard to examine empty human relationships in a critical manner. Heavy soul-searching dialog rapidly sinks this well-meaning but gauche pic.
Story concerns Nils, a young tenor player who is too self-centered to give of himself in his relationship with Elin, a former junkie. His best pal, Christian, is a still photographer who works in advertising and for porno magazines. Christian can't get along with his wife Kari, as "free love" is something they can't cope with.
Downer of a script contrives to have both couples break up, with Elin going back on the hard drugs and overdosing at film's climax, Nils having trouble on the bandstand and landing in jail, and Christian railing out against his job and meaningless existence. Hokey open-ending presents Nils with a new opportunity to start up a permanent relationship with a woman but leaves hanging whether he has matured sufficiently to handle it.
Nils Sletta creates a sullen, intriguing (though unsympathetic) protagonist, sort of a Nordic Robbie Robertson. Unfortunately, his tenor playing is mediocre, giving the film very little interest to jazz fans. In fact, when he's on the bandstand soloing in front of a huge blowup photo of the great Dexter Gordon, one can't help think that a genuine story of the jazz experience would be preferable to this gimmicky "express my emotions with my horn" approach.
Supporting cast is good, though hampered by heart-on-sleeve self-examining dialog. Tech credits are excellent, but debuting director Hans Lindgren would do well to devise an interesting, more subtle script next time out.
My review was written in November 1980 after a screening at NYC's MoMA.
Story concerns Nils, a young tenor player who is too self-centered to give of himself in his relationship with Elin, a former junkie. His best pal, Christian, is a still photographer who works in advertising and for porno magazines. Christian can't get along with his wife Kari, as "free love" is something they can't cope with.
Downer of a script contrives to have both couples break up, with Elin going back on the hard drugs and overdosing at film's climax, Nils having trouble on the bandstand and landing in jail, and Christian railing out against his job and meaningless existence. Hokey open-ending presents Nils with a new opportunity to start up a permanent relationship with a woman but leaves hanging whether he has matured sufficiently to handle it.
Nils Sletta creates a sullen, intriguing (though unsympathetic) protagonist, sort of a Nordic Robbie Robertson. Unfortunately, his tenor playing is mediocre, giving the film very little interest to jazz fans. In fact, when he's on the bandstand soloing in front of a huge blowup photo of the great Dexter Gordon, one can't help think that a genuine story of the jazz experience would be preferable to this gimmicky "express my emotions with my horn" approach.
Supporting cast is good, though hampered by heart-on-sleeve self-examining dialog. Tech credits are excellent, but debuting director Hans Lindgren would do well to devise an interesting, more subtle script next time out.
My review was written in November 1980 after a screening at NYC's MoMA.
