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IMDbPro

Kristin Lavransdatter

  • 19951995
  • 3h
IMDb RATING
4.5/10
1K
YOUR RATING
Elisabeth Matheson in Kristin Lavransdatter (1995)
Drama
Kristin is the daughter of a prominent landowner in medieval Norway. She grows up in total harmony with the ideals of the time: strong family ties, social pride and devout Christianity. She ... Read allKristin is the daughter of a prominent landowner in medieval Norway. She grows up in total harmony with the ideals of the time: strong family ties, social pride and devout Christianity. She accepts the fact that her father has arranged for her to marry the son of another landowne... Read allKristin is the daughter of a prominent landowner in medieval Norway. She grows up in total harmony with the ideals of the time: strong family ties, social pride and devout Christianity. She accepts the fact that her father has arranged for her to marry the son of another landowner. Kristin's beauty and purity create violent emotions around her. There are envy and atte... Read all
IMDb RATING
4.5/10
1K
YOUR RATING
    • Liv Ullmann
    • Liv Ullmann
    • Sigrid Undset(novel)
  • Stars
    • Elisabeth Matheson
    • Bjørn Skagestad
    • Sverre Anker Ousdal
    • Liv Ullmann
    • Liv Ullmann
    • Sigrid Undset(novel)
  • Stars
    • Elisabeth Matheson
    • Bjørn Skagestad
    • Sverre Anker Ousdal
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 18User reviews
    • 7Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards

    Photos16

    Elisabeth Matheson in Kristin Lavransdatter (1995)
    Elisabeth Matheson in Kristin Lavransdatter (1995)
    Elisabeth Matheson in Kristin Lavransdatter (1995)
    Elisabeth Matheson in Kristin Lavransdatter (1995)
    Elisabeth Matheson in Kristin Lavransdatter (1995)
    Kristin Lavransdatter (1995)
    Kristin Lavransdatter (1995)
    Kristin Lavransdatter (1995)
    Kristin Lavransdatter (1995)
    Kristin Lavransdatter (1995)
    Kristin Lavransdatter (1995)
    Kristin Lavransdatter (1995)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Elisabeth Matheson
    • Kristin Lavransdatter
    Bjørn Skagestad
    • Erlend
    Sverre Anker Ousdal
    Sverre Anker Ousdal
    • Lavrans
    Henny Moan
    • Ragnfrid
    Rut Tellefsen
    • Fru Ashild
    Erland Josephson
    Erland Josephson
    • Broder Edvin
    Lena Endre
    Lena Endre
    • Eline Ormsdatter
    Jørgen Langhelle
    • Simon Darre
    Svein Tindberg
    • Ulv
    Linus Aaberg
    Gisken Armand
    Gisken Armand
    • Ingbjørg
    Berard Arnø
    • Ung Erlend
    Bernhard Arnø
    • Arne Gyrdson
    Peter Baden
    • Bentein som barn
    Lars-Erik Berenett
    Lars-Erik Berenett
    • Bjørn
    Svein Erik Brodal
    • Munan Bårdsson
    Joachim Calmeyer
    • Sira Eirik
    Vibeke Falk
    Vibeke Falk
    • Tordis
      • Liv Ullmann
      • Liv Ullmann
      • Sigrid Undset(novel)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The Norwegian entry to the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1996.
    • Alternate versions
      The film premiered in the United States at a length of 144 minutes. The original length was 187 minutes. A restored version was released to video in North America, with all the cut footage intact.
    • Connections
      Featured in Liv Ullmann scener fra et liv (1997)
    • Soundtracks
      O Domina Nostra
      Composed by Henryk Mikolaj Górecki

    User reviews18

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    6/10
    Hugely long medieval soap lacks the popular touch
    A vintage novel with a "national treasure" quality about it, and a movie version of it directed by Liv Ullman, Norway's passionate prodigy: Kristen Lavransdatter has an emblematic quality, like a national-theatre production attended by royalty.

    Sadly, the production does not quite live up to its own image: the star-crossed lovers more closely resemble a pedophile and his prey, or a sleazy playboy and his schoolgirl pick-up, than a knight and his lady. The wild passion at the heart of the picture would be a fizzle at a Christian am-dram camp.

    The big landowner, Kristen's dad, lives in a wretched shack with a couple of nags in the yard --- and his much older wife is nursing an age-old guilt, too. Basically, this whole tale is about guilt, which is a tedious theme, especially strung out for nearly three hours, and without even a few seconds of the forbidden sex being depicted, or skin being shown, which for a Scandinavian picture is, well, bewildering.

    Liv dutifully delivers her central, as-it-were feminist message: that daughters should always be allowed to shag whomever they wish, wherever, and whenever they choose, and probably at just about any age.

    Kristen fancied her childhood playmate, Arne, but was betrothed to Simon. A neighbour tries to rape her, but she dings him on the head with a heavy stone, deranging him sufficiently that in a rage he kills Arne. While attending a convent in Oslo (!) she takes a fancy to His Lordship, a rake who has wrecked the lives of many a dame, and is immediately hot to jump her. Ah, but he knows a trick or two with these schoolgirl virgins, and first lets her sleep the night in his lap while he strokes her hair ---- sure! After she's had a couple of lusty romps in the hay, Kristen may be racked by guilt, but she obeys her lust like a machine, and the devil take the hindmost. She's quite tickled when Mr Moneybags licks the hymen blood off her inner thigh, but that's it for the rampant sex as far as Ms. Ullman is concerned.

    Perhaps the weirdest moment in this theatrical-type movie is when Kristen watches her lover kill his other mistress of ten years, mother of six of his children, then marries him and falls adoringly into his arms in her father's bed. That's carrying Stepfordism to the Nth degree, in my opinion, and for most people in the audience, I think, rips the heroine away from normal and into the world of freaky Manson-girls.

    It's nice to know that the Norwegians treasure this picture, and believe its depiction of the medieval period, but out here in the wider world this film looks dated and Sunday schoolish. Even the art direction is overrated: the scenery is fairly impressive, but sparingly delivered, and the costumes out of a theatrical hire shop, and sometimes garishly coloured.

    Above all, this is a film about sexual desire and longing and rampant fulfilment, and for Kristen Lavransdatter not to depict any sexual activity at all is bordering on the perverted. This is a curiosity that is better left to the Norwegian board of education.
    helpful•3
    6
    • rowmorg
    • Sep 13, 2009

    Details

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    • Release date
      • August 25, 1995 (Norway)
      • Norway
      • Germany
      • Sweden
      • Norwegian
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Sel, Norway
    • Production companies
      • Lavransdatter AB
      • Lefwander Kapitalförvaltning AB
      • Norsk Film
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 3 hours
      • Color
      • Dolby SR

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