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Movies / On DVD / A Song for Martin
A Song for Martin

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A Song for Martin (2002)

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Reviews Counted:27

Fresh:23

Rotten:4

Average Rating:7.3/10

Consensus: Grueling but honest depiction about the ravages of Alzheimer's. Yep, it's a downer.

Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for sexuality, thematic elements and some language

Runtime: 1 hr 59 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Jun 28, 2002 Limited

Synopsis: Danish director Bille August's (PELLE THE CONQUEROR) touching tale is about finding a great love and losing it too quickly. Barbara (Viveka Seldahl), the first violinist in a Swedish philharmonic,... Danish director Bille August's (PELLE THE CONQUEROR) touching tale is about finding a great love and losing it too quickly. Barbara (Viveka Seldahl), the first violinist in a Swedish philharmonic, is immediately, deeply attracted to Martin Fischer (Sven Wollter), a famous composer who is guest conducting his new work. Both Barbara and Martin are good-looking, middle-aged, and married to other people. Despite the obstacles, they fall passionately in love, and soon enjoy a blissful, charmed life together as husband and wife. They live in a quaint house by the sea, and work together on Martin's compositions. However, Martin begins displaying some unnerving behavior--he forgets his manager's name, and has sudden, terrifying moments of blankness where he doesn't recognize the house. When Martin is diagnosed with Alzheimer's, he tries to continue composing his new opera, but the cruel irony of an artist's instrument--his mind and memory--being destroyed (as in IRIS) is soon apparent. Meanwhile, Barbara struggles to cope as her virile, brilliant husband deteriorates into a confused, weak man she doesn't recognize. Wollter embodies the shambling, empty physicality of Alzheimer's to perfection, while Seldahl (Wollter's real-life wife) realistically portrays the frustration, anger, and sorrow of the loved ones forced to watch. [More]

Starring: Viveka Seldahl, Sven Wollter, Reine Brynolfsson, Lisa Werlinder

Starring: Viveka Seldahl, Sven Wollter, Reine Brynolfsson, Lisa Werlinder, Linda Kallgren, Peter Engman, Klas Ahlstedt, Kristina Tornqvist, Jonas Falk

Director: Bille August

Director: Bille August
Producer: Lars Kolvig, Michael Obel
Studio: First Look

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Aug 12, 2003

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for A Song for Martin

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
03/27/09
Gunnar Rehlin
Gunnar Rehlin
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
10/18/08
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile

No review available.

comment Comment
08/18/05
Brian Gibson
Brian Gibson
Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)

No review available.

comment Comment
08/14/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
01/28/04
Film Threat

August ... steers this story to its stirring conclusion with firm lack of sentimentality.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
07/19/03
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | comment Comment
07/16/03
Sydney Morning Herald

It may sound like a mere disease-of- the-week TV movie, but A Song For Martin is made infinitely more wrenching by the performances of real-life spouses Seldahl and Wollter.

Full Review Source: Miami Herald | comment Comment
06/06/03
Rene Rodriguez
Rene Rodriguez
Miami Herald

Upsetting and thought-provoking, the film has an odd purity that doesn't bring you into the characters so much as it has you study them.

Full Review Source: Oregonian | comment Comment
11/15/02
Kim Morgan
Kim Morgan
Oregonian

It's so downbeat and nearly humorless that it becomes a chore to sit through -- despite some first-rate performances by its lead.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
10/18/02
Jeff Vice
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

Director-writer Bille August ... depicts this relationship with economical grace, letting his superb actors convey Martin's deterioration and Barbara's sadness -- and, occasionally, anger.

Full Review Source: Salt Lake Tribune | comment Comment
10/18/02
Sean Means
Sean Means
Salt Lake Tribune

Full of unforgiving irony and quiet realism, A Song for Martin stands as a powerful and moving achievement.

Full Review Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News | comment Comment
08/31/02
Robert Denerstein
Robert Denerstein
Denver Rocky Mountain News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Martin and Barbara are complex characters -- sometimes tender, sometimes angry -- and the delicate performances by Sven Wollter and Viveka Seldahl make their hopes and frustrations vivid.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
08/15/02
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

A delightfully simple, splendid love story between two older people ... a journey of life and love you won't want to miss.

Full Review Source: Zap2it.com | comment Comment
08/01/02
Michael Szymanski
Michael Szymanski
Zap2it.com

More honest about Alzheimer's disease, I think, than Iris.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
07/19/02
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Viveka Seldahl and Sven Wollter will touch you to the core in a film you will never forget -- that you should never forget.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
07/18/02
Michael Wilmington
Michael Wilmington
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The movie, for all its sincerity, becomes clinical and repetitious, though its unsparing vision of the fragility of identity can give you a shudder.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
07/11/02
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

An extraordinary Swedish film about the soul adventure of marriage -- the kind of intimate and character-driven film that Bille August does best.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
06/28/02
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

This slow-moving Swedish film offers not even a hint of joy, preferring to focus on the humiliation of Martin as he defecates in bed and urinates on the plants at his own birthday party.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
06/28/02
Megan Turner
Megan Turner
New York Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A touching examination of the ravages of Alzheimer's disease.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
06/27/02
Ken Fox
Ken Fox
TV Guide's Movie Guide
 
 
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