gilligan1965 SPOILER ALERT - DON'T READ THIS UNLESS YOU'VE ALREADY SEEN THE MOVIE; OR, KNOW THE STORY!One of the best and loveliest movies ever made of one of the worst and wastefully-stupid tragedies to ever occur.I mean no disrespect to the descendants of Hedvig Jensen (Elvira Madigan) or Sixten Sparre, but, when two people are in love as these two seemed to be, and, run away together...you don't choose death because you can't live the lavish lifestyle you're normally accustomed to; and, running away, in itself, changes all of that!?!?Although fictional, at least 'class-different' "Romeo and Juliet" thought each other to already be dead, so, they chose death out of heartbreak.This, here...on the part of Sixten Sparre, to me, was selfish love, arrogance, immaturity, and, a matter of not having his desertion of his army, his family, and, his nation, turn out in his own benefit. On the part of Elvira Madigan, who lived an unsatisfying life before meeting Sixten, ran off with him because she loved him, wanted a different life, and, believed that things would only get better.Being an officer, a nobleman, married with children, and, of a higher social class than Elvira, I believe that Sixten acted impulsively and foolishly by running off with Elvira. Then, after he found that he couldn't make a living and was shun by his wealthy family for his absence and dereliction, he couldn't deal with it, so, he murdered Elvira and then committed suicide out of the shame that he created.This is a true-life tragedy that should have never been. A real 'gentleman' would have left this new woman before he had the chance to love her. Selfishly, he chose to invite her into a false upper-class charade which would have lead to a probable life of destitute; but, instead, he chose to give her an unfair and cruel ending, even (especially) if she had her own suicidal tendencies. A real man would have at least tried to convince her that suicide isn't an answer, but, the ultimate surrender.The music in "Elvira Madigan" is outstanding - Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 21, Adante...beautiful! And...that angelic scene of Elvira walking on the rope is gorgeous-gorgeosity! The world lost a lot when her lovely flame was extinguished!I was SO SHOCKED when he 'actually' shot her...I didn't know what to think except that it was a terrible end to a possibly idyllic life together if he wasn't so bent on remaining a nobleman and got a job; and, she didn't lead him on!?!? I believe that she still would have loved him. So very sad!Then, again, they died as they lived...quickly, in a blissful dream world of young love, yet, an impractical and short-lived fantasy.Once caught for desertion, arrested, and, publicly disgraced, they'd have been separated when Sixten went to prison; and, once released, he would have had no status.I love this movie, yet, hate the ending...but, not only was Sixten suicidal (bad marriage from what I've read); but, so was Elvira (according to what her mother told reporters) - my daughter asked me, "what way is better to die...drowning or shooting?"The two of them could have and should have had such a wonderful life together...alive. That's on the surface. However, Sixten was not only a deserter to his army and country, but, also, to his wife, children, and, family. Whereas Elvira, meeting this dashing officer, was an immature and love-sick child-victim of his; and, of her own suicidal tendencies.To me: Sixten was the attractive soldiering dynamite...and, Elvira was the beautiful flame attracted to it, and, who ignited it...killing both! :(The silly illusion in the honor of suicide...instead of surrendering!?!? Suicide is the 'final' surrender!

Pierre Radulescu You say the Andante from the 21 Piano, you add, it's the Elvira Madigan. As you know, the nick does not come from Mozart times. It is due to a Swedish movie made by Bo Widerberg in 1967: Elvira Madigan; the Andante was its leitmotiv, played again and again, with the coming of each love scene. Other parts of that movie were scored with fragments from Vivaldi's concertos: the first movements from the Summer, and from L'Amoroso.Maybe the association between the movie and the 21 Piano is not fortunate. Or is it? The Andante is divine, and it deserved a cinematic pair: a movie to render the same nobility, the same bouquet with nuances of discretion and delicacy, in the same dosage. But Mozart is unique! Many people today haven't seen Elvira Madigan. But forty years ago, this movie was loved. And those who watched it should remember the childish tune that starts and ends the movie: it's Den blomstertid nu kommer, an old Swedish song, celebrating the coming of summer. It was composed by Israel Kolmodin in 1695. Then, in 1819, Johan Olof Wallin published a new version. Pupils in Sweden sing it each year in the last day of school.The story in the movie is real. In 1889 a Swedish aristocrat, Count Sixten Sparre, felt in love for a young tight rope dancer, Elvira Madigan. Sparre was married and had two children, but his passion proved overwhelming. He left his family, deserted from the military (he was a lieutenant in the Swedish army) and ran with Elvira in Denmark. They lived a passionate love for several months, being constantly on the run. After spending all the money they had, overdone by hunger, in impossibility to get lodging any more, they didn't find other solution than death. Sparre shot Elvira and then shot himself. They were buried together and, as it happens, their story overpassed reality and entered the realm of legend: one of those famous romantic loves in which the second part of the nineteenth century excelled. Their graves became a pilgrimage place for young couples. Later Johan Lindström Saxon would put the story in a ballad, the Doggerel about the Love and Cruel Death of the lovely Evira Madigan.No wonder this story attracted the filmmakers. The first Elvira Madigan was made in Sweden in 1943. The other two Elvira Madigans came on the screen in 1967. One of them was produced in Denmark, the other was the Swedish movie (featuring Pia Degermark in the titular role), and this version became famous (and gave the nickname to the Andante from the 21 Piano).Watching this Swedish version from 1967 makes obvious some reasons of its fame. The musical background is great; the scenes give the impression of coming from the brush of one of the French masters of the nineteenth century; and generally each sonic or visual detail is treated with care. It is a feast for the ear, and for the eye.However the movie attracted also critical reviews. It was noted that the final (though a real story) lacked artistic motivation. It is not enough that it really happened; it should also be convincing on the screen. After all, as someone exclaimed after watching the movie, why shooting yourself when hungry and penniless? Steal a chicken instead, and leave the serious decisions for the next day. And generally, the story of these two lovers, as it entered the legend, lacks consistence. Much more likely the reality was about morbid obsession on the part of Sparre, while Elvira wanted to escape the misery of circus life and find a husband no matter what.I think these critics miss the point. The movie is not recreating a novel, to be concerned too much about the likeliness of the story, or about the consistence of the decisions taken by the heroes. It is a ballad, playing a love story like a fairy tale. Love in all purity, with no connection with any earthly reality, unaware of any moral issue, of any obligation. A meditation about the ephemeral nature of love: as beautiful and short as summer in Sweden is. The tragic outcome is told from the very beginning and then is suggested in each scene: each moment has the awareness that summer will end before long, happiness will not last. You see, it is the only awareness of the heroes. They celebrate the beauty of each moment while they know that soon it'll be over.Love, as beautiful, careless, and ephemeral, as the days of summer, as the butterfly caressed by Elvira in the final scene.

dan271828 Finally I saw this film on a college campus viewing in 1969 and tried to have a discussion about it with a stranger....big mistake. This is no light-weight film.Yes there is the storyline fact that he left his wife and children. Also the way they solved their problem is revolting to our western sensibilities who like to find living solutions to problems (with notable exceptions).But consider the pace of the film, each second of life was dear and sweet, the music gave focus to the sunlight. She was beautiful in youth (the worshiped idol of the 60's and on). He was caught in his love for her, a grasp at life as with the one you love, trapped in the amber of film, forever. The young couple were living without a plan for the future, not unusual when you're young. Their natural vitality gave a calm pleasure to each segment of dialog free film. A snippet of life savored. One wonders: Is old age our souls' goal? Yes the audience is practical, steal a chicken, flee the country, do something. And if so how is their love and beauty made to stand before us? Tragedy is necessary.Now, I'm much older, but still, once every so often I will see an Elvira walk by, I hold my breath and marvel and am pleased that the world still has room for more such Elviras. Grace and beauty. Since that time, with the perspective from the artists' work I can see a world that would have been only guessed by me, perhaps in a dream; thanks to Elvira Madigan.

tedg One of the simple pleasures of life is to sit in a darkened theater and have a film capture your soul, not as a single person, but as the whole sigh of the room. I saw this in 1967 in Boston, in a makeshift theater. This was at the height of the flower revolution, when Boston was the intellect of the emerging 'counter' culture.This film found a hungry audience -- we and it fed each other. At the same time down the road were Hollywood projects on (what we though was) the same notion: passion before everything, and the purer the passion the clearer the beauty. Life matters less than living. 'Bonnie and Clyde,' and 'The Graduate' seemed slick and pale in comparison then and more so now.For decades, I recalled many of the images:-- the raspberries and cream (which she bought by selling her image)-- her luminescence, her dainty vomit, the fish in her skirt, the attentive query about eggs-- the fainting when she is discovered by innocence (which we ourselves did at the very beginning through the same child's eyes)-- 'There are times when you don't question the cost'and of course:-- the release of the butterfly, and the reluctance of the filmmaker to let us release the image.This film succeeds because it is so simple, but its simplicity is not accidental. The notion of equating Elvira with the music by bringing the musicians into the story shows extraordinary skill. I can think of no other case where a classic piece of music is renamed because of a film.At the time, I recall great discussion of the book Sixten carried around. Like Hamlet's book, it 'mattered,' but I have forgotten its importance. I remember much in the underground press about the self-referential nature: the passion and beauty of the characters and so with the film: the simple commitment to no plan of both: and the accepting of the consequences by both for meditative obsession. But another of the simple pleasures of life is to live long enough to see two of ourselves: the recalled initial engagement with the film and the current one. I wish this pleasure on all of you. Oh how we have all changed. (I strongly suspect that no person who was not there will find any traction with this film, but perhaps others like it.)And watching this now, I discover I'm more of an 'In the Mood for Love' kind of guy. Same ethic. Same commitment to enter the unknown. But the passion if stronger is more diffuse and less selfish. I recommend seeing both films. Let me know.