The story unfolds in Scandinavia, in 1943. Johan Widerberg (the son of the film's director) plays Stig, a handsome schoolboy who hits the mother load, so to speak, when his new teacher turns out to be Viola (Marika Lagercrantz), a secretly miserable woman whose traveling salesman husband, Frank (Tomas von Bromssen), is an alcoholic womanizer with little time for his wife. So Viola and Stig simultaneously seduce each other and begin a tender relationship...albeit one that will get Viola into a heap of trouble if anyone finds out. Then, Stig unexpectedly grows close to Frank, who turns the kid on to classical music, unaware that his wife is simply turning him on.
This sort of thing could, of course, be filmed in a flashy, hot-cha-cha style that intentionally undermines the seriousness of the subject matter. But Widerberg's approach smacks more of an Ingmar Bergman picture than an American, straight-to-video quickie (Morten Bruus' burnished cinematography also helps considerably.) Though there's an undeniable sexiness to the proceedings, you can't help feeling that trouble is on the horizon.
And it arrives when Stig realizes that he has much more in common with Lisbet (Karin Hult), a teenage girl who has a crush on him, than he does with Viola. Be warned - there's a considerable amount of nudity here, a lot involving kids who almost certainly wouldn't be shedding their clothes in an American film. It is, however, very much in service of the plot, and handled as tastefully as possible.
There aren't really any "extras" to speak of, although Home Vision once again scores points for releasing a worthy film that might have otherwise gone unreleased on DVD...regardless of its having been nominated for a Best Foreign Film Oscar in 1996. The transfer is solid, if unremarkable, the subtitles are always readable, there are so-so liner notes from film scholar Wheeler Winston Dixon, and filmographies on both of the Widerbergs. Oddly, there's not even the usual theatrical trailer, which shouldn't have been all that difficult to come by.
For more information about All Things Fair, visit Home Vision Entertainment. To order All Things Fair, go to TCM Shopping.
by Paul Tatara
