A Song For Martin

And a bittersweet, tragic song it is, too. This Swedish drama from Bille August, Oscar-winning director of Pelle the Conqueror, makes 2001's Iris look like Bringing Up Baby in its depiction of the devastating toll of Alzheimer's disease, over which no amount of love can triumph. Real-life couple Sven Wollter and Viveka Seldahl (she has since passed away) hit all the right notes as Martin and Barbara: he a brilliant composer and conductor, she the orchestra's principal violinist--both middle-aged and married (to others). A spark is kindled when she corrects a mistake in his score, and they become lovers, but it is more than just "fiddling with the fiddler," as Martin's manager so indelicately puts it. While the dissolution of their marriages is given short shrift, it is exhilarating to watch passion and love crescendo in their lives (her marriage had been "dead for years," she tells her stunned children). But their blissful union is strained as the disease asserts itself and the film serves up one humiliating episode after another, as Martin begins his gradual, irrevocable descent. Hardly escapist entertainment, A Song for Martin is a powerful drama from one of the premier Scandinavian filmmakers. Highly recommended. (K. Lee Benson)