En sang for Martin

"A Song for Martin is a powerful and almost unbearably realistic drama. Director Bille August is on top form, and so are his two leads Sven Wollter and Viveka Seldahl. They cut right to the bone in this psychological portrayal of the course of Alzheimer's disease, which to a great extent also depicts the feelings and reactions of the next of kin.

It is dreadful to see how a loved one completely changes personality and in the end becomes a speechless vegetable. That is what first violinist Barbara Hartman experiences when her husband, the composer and conductor Martin Fischer, is struck by Alzheimer's. Barbara tries as far as possible to give Martin a dignified life and create a meaningful everyday existence for them both, but as the disease progresses she has to face the fact that she cannot cope with caring for Martin.

The other roles in the film are more cardboard, so it is above all in the interplay between the leads, husband and wife in real life too, that the film comes alive. And there it certainly makes a strong impression.