All Things Fair

Now a film like this can only end in unimaginable tragedy, and All Things Fair delivers on that front. Set in 1943 Scandinavia, World War II is a hazy backdrop as director Bo Widerberg (father of Johan), focuses on this small yet incredibly intense drama. It's easy to forget the draggy middle (when Stig befriends Viola's husband and he spends half an hour pontificating before passing out on the table), when all hell breaks loose in the end. The catalyst for the finale is Stig's relationship with Lisbet (Karin Huldt), a girl of his own generation who Stig (like every boy) finally realizes he has a whole lot more in common with. (Prudes and censors be warned, the oft-topless Huldt was just 16 years old when the film was made.) As the saying goes, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and the worst comes out in everyone by the finish.

Nominated for a Best Foreign Film Oscar, All Things Fair is wholly unlike anything you'll see stateside, and it somehow feels older, more antiquated, than its 1995 pedigree. Parts of it don't ring true -- it's hard to imagine any schoolteacher brandishing a broken bottle at a kid, forcing him to have sex with her -- but Widerberg's ability to capture the passions in the situation is undeniable.

Aka Lust och fägring stor .