Linda Rugg is associate professor of Scandinavian studies at UC Berkeley.

Based on the life of Maria Larsson-wife, mother, and pioneering photographer-Everlasting Moments is a lovingly detailed portrait of a Finnish woman in early-twentieth-century Sweden, a volatile place marked by war, temperance movements, and labor uprisings. Married to the erratic Sigfrid Larsson, alcoholic manual laborer and consummate charmer, Maria struggles to provide for her ever-expanding brood. When she tries to pawn her never-used camera, Danish photography shop owner Sebastian Pedersen persuades her to keep it and experiment. Maria first uses the camera to escape her life but, in the process, captures the essence of her surroundings. Intense beauty and sorrow permeate the world created by Jan Troell and his actors, who give nuanced and emotionally rich performances. Told from the perspective of Maria's eldest daughter, Everlasting Moments is an exquisite period piece that has much to tell us today about the bonds of family and the liberating power of art.