SCFZ

Polling the films of Bo Widerberg

The rules:

- your list can include no more than half* of the Widerberg films you've seen, up to a maximum of 8. So if you've seen 6 films, you can vote for 3, and if you've seen 20, you can vote for up to 8.

* If you've seen an odd number, you can round up when deciding the length of your ballot -- e.g if you've seen 7, you can vote for 4, and if you've seen 15, you can vote for the maximum of 8.

- i'll assume ballots are ranked unless you tell me otherwise. unranked ballots are fine.

- deadline for ballots: next Friday, in seven days, whatever day that is

umbugbene created an index on letterboxd of all of our previous polls here: letterboxd.com/umbugbene/list/index-of-all-scfz-director-polls/

The Man on the Roof

only seen one but it was very good

Seen 8.
1. Elvira Madigan-1967
2. Ådalen 31 - 1969
3. Joe Hill-1971
4. All things fair-1995-("Love lessons")
Different genres, all interesting to see.

raven's end ♥
joe hill

01. The Man from Majorca (1984)
02. Elvira Madigan (1967)
03. Come on Roland! (1966)
04. All Things Fair (1995)
05. The Butt (1974)
06. The Baby Carriage (1963)
07. Raven's End (1963)
08. Love 65 (1965)

Widerberg seen: 15

8.

Elvira Madigan
Raven's End
Man on the Roof
All Things Fair

EM is one of my fav films, probably like it more than I should do but hey. Apart from Pia Degermark's piercing eyes I really enjoy the nostalgic musical moments. Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 has become synonymous with the film and it was also the first classical music piece I became enthralled with as a kid. Very much the default classical music you would hear, it was often played on the television in between breaks in programming, like here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-Z7zvU2KxA

The film also opens and closes on the summer hymn "Den Blomstertid nu kommer/The Time of Blossom now Approaches", a hymn that has been sung by all school children on the last day of school before summer since time immemorial. Widerberg returns to it over and over again, the Swedish title for All Things Fair is the second line of the hymn. Summer is basically god for us overwhelmingly secular winter dwellers and thus you could say this is Widerberg's only religous film.

The time of blossom now approaches
With lust and great beauty
You are on the eve, lovely summer
When grass and crops grow
With gentle and eager warmth
To all that's been dead
The rays of the sun approaches
And everything is reborn

Seen 8:

Adalen 31
Man on the Roof

The rest are in the very good, but not great camp for me.

seen only 1 for this year's noirvember and it was good

Man on the Roof

i've tallied the results so far, but we didn't get so many ballots for this poll, so i'll leave it open another 24 hours -- any other widerberg viewers, last chance to vote!

The Man from Majorca (1984)

Seen 2

good to get one more ballot at least! widerberg's two cannes-winning films came 4th and 7th in our poll (he never won the palme d'or, but adalen 31 won the grand prix, and joe hill the jury prize), though i think our winner is not much of a surprise.

results
1. Elvira Madigan (1967) — 12 pts
2. The Man from Majorca (1984) — 6 pts
3. Raven’s End (1963) — 5.3 pts
4. All Things Fair (1995) — 5 pts
4. Adalen 31 (1969) — 5 pts
6. Man on the Roof (1976) — 4 pts
7. Come on Roland! (1966) — 3 pts
7. Joe Hill (1971) — 3 pts
9. The Butt (1974) — 1 pt
10. The Baby Carriage (1963) — 0.5 pts
11. Love 65 (1965) — 0.1 pts

posted to letterboxd:

https://letterboxd.com/fliptrotsky/list ... -poll-300/