stradaveche Did you read the novel? If your answer is YES, this movie is a 7 one. If your answer is NO, this movie is a 2 movie. I red the novel, so for me, is a 7 movie: I understand, is very difficult to put on screen a so perfect novel as KL by Sigrid Undset! In fact, it is a good realization!

Björn-5 I watched this movie at a film festival years ago. It was the "director's cut", AFAIK, and the three+ hours playing time honestly felt closer to four hours. Now, I'm no stranger to historical drama, romantic movies, or epic movies, but this movie bored me out of my skull. The story drags along at a snail's pace, with the few dramatic highlights hardly making a blip on the radar. The main characters fail at stirring any sympathy for them or their relation. The sets, costumes and cinematography were decent enough, but it couldn't compensate for the turgid pace. It is probably the most boring historical drama I've had to misfortune to watch.

dfwforeignbuff I did not read Undset's great book trilogy about 14th century Norway. This is Liv Ullmann's second directorial attempt. She was best known for her acting roles in Ingmar Bergman's films. It is a film about medieval spirituality both paganism & Christianity. The production of the film is lavish film with epic type dimensions & cinematography. It is a long move 3 hours. Kristin is the daughter of a prominent landowner in medieval Norway. She grows up in total harmony with the ideals of the time: strong family ties, social pride & devout Christianity. She accepts the fact that her father has arranged for her to marry the son of another landowner. Kristin's beauty & purity create violent emotions around her. There are envy & attempted rape, murder & revenge. She seeks refuge from the world in a convent, waiting the time for her marriage. Here the passion of her life strikes, the knight Erlend Nikulaussonn. He, an accomplished seducer, also falls hopelessly in love. They have to cross not only convent walls to meet, but social boundaries as well. Their love cannot be kept secret, & suddenly the innocent Kristin is the centre of a scandal. Her fiancé withdraws from their engagement, her father rages, & Erlend's former mistress tries to poison her. The affair grows into a political issue, & finally some of the country's most dignified leaders persuade Lavrans to give in. The lovers win each other, but it is in front of a charred altar in a burnt down church, & their happiness has a double edge. The film is a cinematic masterpiece. Ullmann has learned well from her teacher Ingmar Bergman & this is a really magical beautiful 14th century tale. Every scene is a pleasure to behold thanks to SVEN NYKVIST's cinematography. This DVD contained the full 3 hours & contained the 20 minutes omitted from the original film release. Some will say that Ullmann ultimately doesn't succeed in bringing Kristin's passion to life on screen in a convincing fashion. I disagree I loved this film

saerin If I had seen this film before reading the book first, I still would not have liked it very much. However, as I had read the book, I cannot write this review without comparing the two.Compared to the book, this film was horrible. Not merely because the pace was slow, or because of the pointless changes they made to the plot in places.No, what ruined it for me was the choice of actors. There is not a one, I think, who completely fit their character, but more so for the main characters. Take Kristin, for example; in the book, she is, at the oldest, about 18. And yet the actress looked 28. Kristin is described as being incredibly beautiful; and yet, the actress was, if not directly ugly, certainly not pretty or attractive in any way. Kristin is supposed to be sweet, innocent and mild of manner--in every way the epitome of the the gentle young virgin. And yet I saw few such characteristics in the way the actress portrayed her.And Erlend. Erlend was supposed to be handsome, dashing, sweeping her off her feet. The very Romeo to her Juliet. The actor looked retarded half of the time, his mouth hanging open; the other half was nothing special.And then there are the pointless changes in the other characters. Kristin's bedmate, Ingebjørg (and she was the ONLY bedmate...Helga was very little involved with anything in the book) was supposed to be blonde and very fat. Kristin's father was supposed to be very fair and knightly. Likewise, her almost-fiancé was supposed to be plump and talkative, too. And her sister was supposed to be about 6 years her younger; NOT the same age.Possibly petty complaints: but actors make the film. Choose actors that cannot play their part, and you have a bad film. It's as simple as that. If you want to adapt a book to the screen, please do so as accurately as possible. Truth be told, I couldn't make myself watch the last half an hour of the film, it was annoying me so much. In the book, in liked Kristin; I had sympathy for her cause. In the film, I did not, at all.