Review of the Movie All Things Fair, Reviewed by Selma Duckler

All Things Fair is a Swedish movie that tells a story of the universal timeless theme of a
passionate love affair between an adolescent and a mature adult.

This story is told in the movie as reality, and so it is for some, and for many its an important
fantasy, and for others its a blurred combination of fantasy and reality.
But however it is told, fantasy or reality, this story in innumerable variations, exists in
literature, in movies, in history, in narrative, in personal history and collective memory. It is a
classic story, told with dialogue and with classical music, which in this film, occupies a place as
important as a character. There is a background of turmoil.. WW 11. this story is never told
without inner chaos. It is in the veins and arteries of this unique saga.

The place is Malmo, Sweden, the 2nd largest city in Sweden, and the time is 1943.In the early
part of the movie we hear of Germany's defeat at Stalingrad, and there is knowledge that Hitler is
planning to invade Sweden, which is a neutral country.

Despite his major defeat at Stalingrad, Hitler continued threats and boasting of a Swedish
invasion. The widespread rumors and apprehension of the Swedes is factual. Many officers in
the Swedish army were reputed to be Nazi oriented. The first scene in the movie depicts an
active anti semitism which permeated throughout the Western world in the 1940's. The
infiltration of Nazi ideology at that time in countries not at war became another factor, that
contributed to Jews the world over, a determination to have their own country. Sweden was
conflicted however on the issue of antisemitism, as it was also true that Sweden safeguarded
almost all the Scandinavian Jews all through the warSweden saved the lives of 90% of Danish
Jews who made safe transport to Sweden.

This was the last film of gifted Swedish director, Bo Widerberg. Two years later ,at the age of
56, he died of stomach cancer. His son, Johan Widerberg, who was 21 at the time, played the
main role of Stig, the 15 year old boy in this illicit relationship with his teacher. Widerberg was
highly critical of his contemporary, Ingmar Bergman who he felt monopolized Swedish cinema.
Widerberg was not interested in abstract issues of the existence of God that Bergman presented,
but wanted a new wave cinema that would be concerned with earthier seething inner lives of his
characters.

The movie opens with Lascia ch'io ping (Rinaldo) by George Frideric Handel performed as we
read a script written by Carl Linnaeus. Sweden's' Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) was one of the
most influential scientists of his time. His life work was to classify and name all life on earth.
His discoveries are still important today.

The Handel music and the ancient text on mating in the opening scene sets the scene for the
classic love story which is to follow. It's a variation on an old theme just as music presents us
with variations on a theme.

Lectures on Sexuality by Carl Linnaeus

"Discharge of semen generally starts about the 14th year and continues until age 50 or 60 when
it comes to an end. Hair appears, the voice deepens, breasts develop. The sexes are stirred by
nature more easily than before."

We are stirred by the gorgeous Handel music.

Malmo, Sweden 1943

We are on a snowy school playground and see groups of young adolescents playing and running.
One boy says to anotheris it time?..yeshow long did he say it was? 1 and 3/4 "the boys all
dash into the toilet very excited to see a phenomena towards which they have all contributed
about 25cents, the winner of the longest penis to take all. But the bell rings, and they say "next
recess" and dash out.

The graduating class with boys and girls of perhaps 15 yrs., are responding to roll call by the
new beautiful teacher, just arrived from Stockholm. Her name, she says is Viola. She pauses in
the roll call to mention Stig, easily the handsomest boy in the class. He is from Stockholm, she
reads, and she has just newly arrived from Stockholm. As the class sits waiting for their name to
be called,, the boys pass around a wad of chewing gum from which each boy chews about 4/5
timesremoves the gum, and passes it to the next fellow. When the bell rings, the boy who is
left with the gum, carefully puts it away in a small jar to be ready for the next class. They are
very excitedly whispering to each other the anticipated size of the penis they are going to
measure at the next recess. The size grows as whispering moves from boy to boy.

When the bell rings, they fall over each other in their rush to get to the toilet with the measuring
tape..They rush around Izzy, small dark haired boy who has a big smile and a scarcely contained
air of excited anticipation They place the tape measure and measure him. yes, they agree..its in
excess of one and 3/4 inches and he clearly has won. No, one of the boys says. He is a Jew..he
has more hair than the rest of us and it is thicker than we areit doesn't count because he is a
Jew. He cheated. He would be disqualified at the racetrackif he were a horse.
Izzy says I didn't cheat.

They all laugh..and start to leave. Stig, uncomfortable with this says he should get his quarter
back because he is not in the competition. What, another one says. He knew he was a Jew before
and he's still a Jew..he shouldn't have entered it. We don't owe him anything. He knew it. Just
look in the mirror. His beak takes up the whole mirror. He doesn't count. he should be grateful
we're being nice, because he shouldn't have entered into this. Izzy, head down fighting tears,
stumbles out of the building.

Viola is lecturing on a writer, but no one is listening to her. They are again passing the gum wad
and whispering important information. One boy keeps saying excitedly to another orgies, orgies.
What is that, the other boy wants to know. "Its bunches of people doing it together." Oh, the
other says disdainfully. that s just group sex. More information followsdo you know some
ladies piss themselves when they come, one announces ? Stig says "what do you mean?".."Well,
they are wide open like a door" he whispers Stig says matter of factly"they just probably
forgot to go to the bathroom first"."Don't you understand anything," the other kid says, "The dick
is still inside."The kid in front of him turns, gives Stig a slingshot..and says "whats wrong with
you? the place is crawling with flies."Stig aims a wad on the slingshot and starts to kill the flies
on the wall behind the teacher. He never misses.

The bell rings, and the kids file out. As Stig passes Viola, she stops him and tells him to sit
down. When everyone leaves, she tells him she doesnt appear to know, but she is very
aware of what is going on. Sharing a wad of gum was a most unsanitary thing to do, and carried
germs, and she wanted him to read the note he was passing around. He said he didn't know
where it was. She cooly said she knew exactly where it was.his left hip pocket. So he took it
out , unfolded it, and she repeated to him, "read it to me." He said, he could not do that. "You
forgot how to read",she responds." No, but, I can't read it , Miss". she takes the note from him,
and reads how many times does the cock come and in and out during normal sex
Various boys have signed their name and their choice of number which hovers between 750 and
1000.750-----850---1000

Without missing a beat, she smiles and says ,"I believe your ideas of male potency are
exaggerated, or perhaps it is wish fulfillment. Then she tells him that she admires his
marksmanship, and she doesn't 'much care for the fly, but now he must clean up all the dead flies
plastered to the board and the wall. He gets a ladder and starts to wash off the corpses as she
corrects papers. He suddenly has become aware of this very collected teacher, and standing on a
ladder, behind her, looking down at her stares at the clasp of the delicate chain on the back of her
neck.

He has become very aware of her and the next scenes show his growing obsession with her. On
the playground he spends his time staring up at the 3rd floor window of her classroom. Once she
looks down on the playground and sees him staring at her. He finds out where she lives, and at
night hidden in the trees across the street stares at her window. She comes out on the balcony in
a silk robe , looks down on the street, and thoughtfully goes back in
.When the students are writing a test, and she walks up and down the rows, glancing down at
their work and absorption, she is aware of a tension..a vitality..a changed climate as she walks
past him, and he stops writing.

She comes into her classroom, and finds him looking in a dictionary. He explains that he is
looking up a word, and that he does this all the time. "what word", she asks. He
fumbles."Mediocre",he says. She gives him the meaning, but he continues to stare at the
dictionary explaining he wants to see what else it says. "What are the other words", she askshe
fumbles more"Oh, lots" and he goes to return the dictionary which is kept on a low shelf right
behind her desk. As he places the book away he has a good look at the edge of her skirt, and the
start of her stockinged leg.

One time when she is not there , he caresses the seat of her chair, and bends to place a loving
kiss there.

One day she needs someone to go to the map room with her. Stig offers. They climb the flights
of stairs to the top of the building where the maps are. Stig is a few steps behind her very aware
of her narrow skirt framing a good view of her legs, and buttocks as she climbs .Its a dark dusty
attic room..and there is an air of electricity. Footsteps, and she announces that it is the math
teacherpaunchy older man totally absorbed in his hunt for other objects in another part of the
large room. Cornered as she pulls out a long roll of map, Stig envelopes her with his arms and
kisses her. Startled she pushes away.but not a whole lot. He embraces her again, and gives her
soft little kisses , on and around her mouth, and she responds in kind. Arias from the Handel
composition are heard and indeed for the next parts of the movie which will show their
lovemaking, we also hear the exquisite Handel ariasthe music of their love.

But not right away. They go back down to the classroom. The next few days she is in deep
reflective thought at her desk, and he is having a sexual awakening. They don't talk.
One day he knocks at her door at her home. She is in a robe, surprised to see him but lets him in.
They start kissing each other; the Handel aria sings its soulful verse.
Next we see them sitting on the couch, laughing. Her hair is loosened, she is very girlish looking,
and very happy. They both are and the Handel music crescendos.

She tells him he must not arrive unannounced as her husband could be home. He says he didn't
see a car parked. "It's not that easy", she explains, as she tells him the make of the car, and the
four places he must check where it could also be parked. She says when her husband comes
home, he mostly sits in the kitchen, drinks and listens intently to classical music. If it happens to
be Beethoven, he is oblivious to the worldno one dares to speak.

Her husband is a traveling salesmanand we find him to be a likable , lonely man, finding
solace in alcohol, and a deep immersion in classical music.

One day he sees Stig in the apartment. Stig is frozen, but Kjell, the husband pleasantly asks
"what language?" Stig doesn't get it, but the husband explains that he knows Stig is being tutored
and "what language is he learning? English?"

After this he accepts Stig's presence, and welcomes it. The boy and the man like each other and
become friends Kjell becomes a loving sensitive father to Stig as we shall see.

This relationship is the main plot of the movie.

Stig lives with his mother and father in an apartment building in which a 15 year old classmate
of Stig's also lives. Her name is Lisbet. She is a pig tailed, virginal school girl, small, just starting
adolescence. She has a huge crush on the handsome, worldly Stig, who she watches all of the
time. She notes what a good person he is, helping his mother with chores, and taking over a
manly role with his family as his father is an alcoholic, and his brother is in the navy. Stig has a
good companionable relationship with his mother, an attractive young woman, resigned to a boor
of a husband, very little money, one son already out of the house, and the other approaching
manhood and separation.

Stig, a model son, gets good grades, helps his mother in a loving way, and works everyday after
school in the cinema, selling chocolates . He carries a tray around his neck filled with sweets and
wears a red toy soldier looking uniform with a pillbox of a red hat that has elastic under the chin
which he despises. He looks silly and juvenile, and much prefers his lover role with Viola. But
he is a big contributor to his home and he accepts the insults of his employer, and the
embarrassment of his job because he loves his mother and accepts the responsibilities.
Stig adores and admires his brother in the navy who is trying to get to the weight he needs to
fight a middleweight champion boxing match. This has high priority for all of the family.but
perhaps not quite as much as for the brother who has signed up to become a submarine
sailor..and is anxiously waiting for that confirmation. In 1943..with Europe at war, and lacking
the technical abilities we have now.a submarine would be a very dangerous place to be.

Sigge, the older son gets to have his championship boxing match. Stig runs from his job to the
ring in his uniform not to miss it. Sigge, goes down several times, but comes up before 10, but
gets very beat up in the fight. However in the last few minutes of the match he knocks his
opponent out and wins. The audience is hysterical and so is Stig's family. That night in his bed
next to Sigge, he looks at his brother, just about passed out from exhaustion, and injurieshis
head is bandaged; his face is cut, bruised, swollen. His lip is split, and his eyes are damaged and
shut.

The parents are asleep, the father snoringand lonely Stig reflects on another lonely night when
he couldn't sleep and in the middle of the night he went over to Viola's apartment. He let himself
in with his key, and went over to her bedpicked up some silken clothes from the floor, kissed
them, removed his shoes and started to undress..when he saw Kjell, in his pajamas coming into
the bedroom. He hid, ran back, picked up his shoes and tiptoed back to leave. But there was Kjell
up and seemingly going into the toilet. He said to Stig, "me first, you know, elders first", and
went into the bathroom. Was he drunk or did he know? Stig went homethe question is not
answered.

Another morning Viola and Stig are asleep, nude. Viola looks at the clock, jumps out of bed,
dresses and runs off to school. Stig looks at the note on the pillow which tells him he can sleep
on. Kjell is away on his job.

At school she tells one of the boys that Stig is absent. She saw his mother on the bus who told
her he was not well, she explains. Then during breakfast break, she runs to her apartment which
is close by, removes her dress, says they have to hurry as she has to get right back.

One day Stig walks in the apartment carrying a small bouquet of carnations. He gets a vase down
from the cupboard and as he is preparing it, Kjell walks in carrying a large bouquet of flowers,
saying "Happy Birthday, Viola". He sees Stig..cheerily says "helloare you down again in
English?" and asks where the wife ison an errand? Kjell sights the vasegreat..a vase all
ready , and puts in his flowers. ..when Kjell turns his back, Stig slips his small carnations into
the vase with the others.

Kjell puts on his white gloves that he wears when he handles his precious records. He puts a
record oncloses his eyes as the music begins, breathes deeply and puts his head back. As the
music enters his head..his body, he smiles at Stig and says TchaikovskyRomeo and Juliet. He
is lost in the music..but gets an ignorant look from Stig..and says to him"the girl on the
balcony." He goes over to a cuckoo clock on the wall, gives Stig a mischievous look and rubs his
shirt sleeve as he holds a glass up to the clock. the cuckoo comes out and chirps and liquor flows
into the glass. Kjell says "pure Gin". He invented this liquor dispenser to charm and please his
customers. Sales have gone up. But he said this invention is just
peanuts..nothing. He invents wonderful things. He talks to Stig as a good friend. the boy is
charmed. Kjell says the name Kjell is boringhe doesn't use it. He is Frank. He says, "you Stig,
me Frank".The customers love the name Frank. It reminds them of Frank Sinatra which is a good
and interesting person to be. Personally he prefers Beethoven and Mahler but the customers like
Sinatra. Kjell says he is miserable because nylon stockings have come in. He is a stocking
salesmansells women's woolen, silk and cotton stockings. He says nylon is like sandpaper on
the legs.

In charming parent to child storytelling, he explains that wool, silk, and cotton come from
animals..animals and their mothers..animals who run and play. Well, Stig, who is now drinking
juice and toasting with him, says" silk worms don't play." "Yes, but they struggle and work. they
are living beings. Their product is something you should wear. Nylon comes from a greasy
machine in the Pentagon. It is used for parachutes. women should not wear something so
degrading." The man and the boy are becoming genuine good friends.

The next scene, Stig comes to his home. He has bought a phonograph record. his mother is
bewildered. What a purchase! He tells her she will love it. He puts it on..It is Brahms. She looks
at him uncomprehendingly and says "well, I'll listen later", and she walks away. Stig's father
bellows "put that cat out"the record
plays..louder and more belligerent, the father continues to yell, "get that cat out"..the violins play
higher..the father yells, "Jesus Christ. Are you deaf". The father stomps in the room and yanks
the record off the phonograph..Stig grabs his father to get back the record and says to him"you
Bastard..you Bastard".They start a dangerous fight. The mother runs in to break it off and pull
them apart.

It is morning. Stig comes into the kitchen in Violas apartment, to get a glass of water. He is
wearing a silk flowered robe that has to be Viola's and nothing else. As he turns away from the
sink , He sees Kjell sitting at the kitchen table with a woolen sock over his hand. He is saying,
"what does the sock say?"
He continues, "no explanation necessary. Unless you insist. Sit..sit..sit" Stig doesn't sit but he
leans back on the sink and listens.

Kjell says to the sock, "how to explain to the young man that the husband keeps so calm."
"shall I explain in Swedish or in English. you must be pretty good at English by now."
In a small voice, Stig says "Swedish."

Kjell says in a quiet way

"certain things shouldn't be in a certain placesuch as the backseat of his car..but it happens to
be there and who should find it"?. "wrong finder, wrong article, wrong time", he continues.
he sells ladies underwear"could the garter be from his collection?" "No, because its a used
garter."

"That garter cost him a son. one week after the wedding
of course booze is the problem because you don't know what you're doing it just tastes so good.",
he soliloquizes.

Stig goes home ..reads a letter from his brotherthat is in a code the brothers have devised to
get past the censors. Another match is coming up and it has been confirmed that he is going on a
submarine whose code name is wolf.

Back in Violas apartment, Stig and Kjell are listening to music. Kjell, white gloved, has put on
the final chorus Matthaus-Passion by J.S. Bach. He puts back his head, closes his eyes, licks the
gin on his top lip. He is in ecstasy. Stig is also very moved by the majestic music.
The chorus rises and the sound fills the roomsomeone is playing a radio nearby, and we hear
Hitler ranting..screaming his Heil Hitler propagandaThe gorgeous male voices rise in
splendor, singing the verses..Hitler screams on. We hear both at the same time. It is a cacophony
of sound.
Kjell says, "its the same. Its the same language. I can't understand it"He repeats, I can't
understand itover and over again, and breaks down crying."I can't understand it". "I can't
understand it", he sobs. Stig holds him in his arms.

This is the most moving scene in the film for me. I cannot get it out of my mind. How many
times have we asked how could it happen in Germany. Stig holds the crying man until he
recovers.
He does recover..and starts to throw out the liquorhe says, "we have to avoid the dining rooms
in the hotels". He takes Stig into a storage room, and finds athletic short pants, shoes and soccer
balls. they dress and go out in the courtyardfind some young boys and start a game of kick
ball..maybe soccer.
Viola opens and closes the door to her room and looks at them through the window. this is not
what she wants.

There is something healing in the relationship between Stig and Kjell..a real father that allows
him to live in the reality of his lifethat he is a 15 year old boy.

Lisbeth, his classmate who has a crush on him, and is totally unaware of what has happened to
him has her own designs. There is a birthday party for Stig's mother..the apartment residents are
enjoying cake and ice cream and birthday gifts outside in the yard. Lisbeth whispers for him to
come into one of the empty apartments. He follows her, she locks the door and tells him he must
close his eyes until she says ok. She removes all of her clothesa small adolescent child with
beginning breasts. She says" ok" and he opens his eyes and stares at her. She says "do what you
want with me." She tells him "this is what a woman looks like"She says she won't get pregnant
as she bought condoms, under the pillow and she placed a rubber pad under the sheets in case
there is too much blood. She smiles..she has thought of everything.

Then she looks at his uncomprehending face..realizes her mistake, puts on her dress inside out
and backwards, says, "tell your mother I ate too much cake" and runs out leaving all the rest of
her clothes on the floor. But something has happened to him. She is his real world. It is where he
belongs. Lisbeth is in pain, but it wasn't a mistake. Viola is the mistake.
He is sitting in Violas apartment and listening to classical music. Viola says that she has found
the quote she wants to tell him about, and says," shut off the music". He doesn't she gets mad
and she shuts it off. He asks her why she isn't with Frank..what is their relationship? She says
Frank is her hostage, and she keeps him as her hostage. He says why don't you divorce him. No,
she says" even a hostage needs someplace to go..even if I'm not here, its a place for him to come
to. Otherwise he would go under."

Another night he comes in to see Frank who is drinking tall glasses of gin and is crying. Stig
says I thought you were supposed to be on the wagon. He says he is listening to
Kindertotenlieder by Mahler, and it is terribly sad so he is crying. Sig says totendeaddead
children. Frank is angry"I don't know Germanit just sounds sad ..and sad is what I am." He
shoves a newspaper at Stig. There is a picture of women, and a headline that nylon mania has hit
the United States. Frank says" it will be here soon." Stig knows Franks business and he knows
that Frank has bought huge lots of wool and silk because it was so cheap and has filled neighbors
cellars that he has rented with the silk and wool, which is now going to be useless. Frank
continues to drink wallowing in his feeling sorry for himself mood, and goes into a stupor. Stig
tries to hold his head , and stroke his hair. Viola comes out of the bedroom, puts her hand
through Stig's hair and beckons flirtatiously to Stig to come in the bedroomShe reappears
shortly without her clothes. Sig goes in the bedroom, brings out a blanket, covers Frank lovingly
and leaves the apartment.

Now he is back in the classroom, writing on the blackboard behind Viola. She tells him to write
something. He says he all ready wrote that. She is unbuttoning the bottom buttons of her skirt to
excite him, as she tells him to write it again. She writes a note on her notebook and pushes it
into his vision. It says the coast is clear and he should come by at 7:30. He glances at it, and
asks to be excused to go to the bathroom.
He leaves and runs into the girls gym where Lisbeth is in class. He hides in a big box used for
broad jumping and looks at Lisbeth through a slat. He shoots her a note with his sling shot to
come to the box. she jumps into the box and the box is slid out for the class to do their broad
jumping with them in it. when the box is replaced in the storage room, and everyone leaves, they
make love in the box and eventually emerge, laughing and joking. This is silly sex time for 15
year olds. Stig is very happy.

News comes that his brother was killed in the submarine and he knows the grief of war.

The relationship with Viola is not what he wants anymore and she is furious. She is violent.
There is a terrible scene where she comes at him with a broken bottle, determined to cut
him..maybe to kill him.
In the end she announces that she is going to flunk him . He is not going to graduate as he has
missed so much school, she cannot graduate him, she says. Also all the absences were without a
note from home so that makes it worse. Contempt of school for unexcused absences. He is
stunned. He will have to repeat the year. He begs of her..he was absent because he was in her
apartment waiting for her to come between classes to have sex with him. He could not have
excuse notes from home. what is she talking about?
But "Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned," (the
mourning bride..William Congreve 1697) And Viola we need to remember had no forgiveness
for her husbands one indiscretion. Her fury then made a hostage of him in a loveless marriage
and while she didn't lead her husband to drink, she offered no help to rescue him from his self
destruction and self hate. She was very beautiful, intelligent and perceptivebut it brought no
great gifts of life to her for she could not really love.

The last scene is graduation day. Zig's name is called. He is not dressed up as others are. He
walks down the aisle to where his teacher stands. He stands still and slowly unbuttons his
pants..and when unbuttoned just stares at her and walks out.

This absorbing movie, is offered on YouTube so you can see it on your computer screen.
It might be seen as a fanciful, "what if "story of oedipus. "What if "he didn't kill his father but
saved him, and relinquished his mother. It is a sweet attempt to change the course of tragedy.
that's one of the appeals of the movieto show us our fantasies, and change the role of fate, so
we can deny the harm this romance would have done to the boy that would not be so easily
reversed. It's not Oedipus that is blindedthe attempt here is to blind the viewer to the original
story. It's a story of redemption. The innocence and purity of Stig denies the role he has in his
story.a dreamfreedom from responsibility. The divine music helps the seduction. It is
interesting that Stig doesn't need to demand punishment for himself, but the punishing figure
that demands payment is the woman..the mother. She is cruel to her husband and to her lover,
and ends up alone.