I couldn’t sleep Saturday night, so I watched a Swedish IFC film on pay-per-view called Everlasting Moments http://www.ifcfilms.com/viewFilm.htm?filmId=1216. I chose it because the synopsis is “Sweden, early 1900s. In a time of social change and unrest, war and poverty, a young working class woman, Maria, wins a camera in a lottery. The decision to keep it alters her whole life. The camera grants Maria new eyes with which to see the world, and brings the charming photographer “Piff Paff Puff” into her life. Trouble ensues when Maria’s alcoholic, womanizing husband, feels threatened by the young man and his wife’s newfound outlook on life.”

I was profoundly moved by this movie, not because it was about a woman’s discovery of photography and how empowering it was for her, although that was intriguing. The characters are wonderful and the acting superb. There’s one moment when Maria tells her photographer friend, Mr. Pedersen, that she doesn’t want the camera anymore because it takes her away from her children and responsibilities. To watch her become so taken in by the Contessa camera she uses is extremely poignant for me because I feel the exact same way. I have a love/hate relationship with my art because I can’t live without it (or writing), yet it takes so much out of me and leaves me with little to offer my family once I’ve set out to create something. And you do learn a lot about yourself in the process of exploring your creativity. On the one hand, I can’t imagine not photographing or writing. But, as a mother, I do feel very guilty at times because I devote so much time to my art.

The cinematography in this movie is equally breathtaking. It has a vintage, warm look to it and the settings are beautiful. I would have to say Everlasting Moments ranks as one of the best movies I’ve ever seen.