Bo Widerberg

Early life

Widerberg was born in Malmö, Malmöhus County, Sweden.

Career

Bo Widerberg began his career as a writer. In 1952 came his first novel, Hösttermin. In the same year, his short story collection Kyssas, published by Bonnier, became a bestseller. His most successful book was the novel Erotikon (1957). The novel's title comes from Mauritz Stiller's silent film classic Erotikon (1920). Widerberg's last novel is Den gröna draken, which was published in 1959 and is a satire on the advertising industry. The book was made into a film by Widerberg himself with the title Heja Roland! (1966).

In 1962, Bo Widerberg's debate book The Vision in Swedish Film appeared. He was critical of the film that had been made in Sweden, not least of all by Ingmar Bergman whom he called "Our spirit's Dala horse in the world", and his films which he likened to "... an export item filled with undisguised exoticism". The essay collection gave him a chance to direct his own film: Gustav Scheutz surprisingly offered him to make a film at Europafilm. Widerberg made his feature film debut with The Baby Carriage (1963) with colleague Jan Troell as photographer, and in the same year came Raven's End (1963), both with Thommy Berggren in the lead role. With the latter, he made several films, including the American film Joe Hill (1971).

The film Elvira Madigan (1967) received great international attention, and the lead actress Pia Degermark was awarded Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival that year. Ådalen 31 (1969), about the Ådalen shootings in 1931 when five demonstrators were shot dead by the military, also received critical acclaim. The film won the Special Grand Prize of the Jury at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for both the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It won the prestigious Grand Prix of the Belgian Film Critics Association and received multiple awards in the 6th Guldbagge Awards.

The film The Man on the Roof (1976) is pioneering Swedish crime film, known among other things for a comically stilted police dialogue and a helicopter crash in central Stockholm. It is based on the 1971 novel The Abominable Man by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. The film won two Guldbagge Awards in 1977, for Best Film and Best Actor (Håkan Serner). In 1984 came another crime film directed by Bo Widerberg, The Man from Majorca (1984), this time based on the novel The Pig Party by Leif G. W. Persson.

His last feature All Things Fair (1995), about a teacher's forbidden love affair with a student, played by his son Johan Widerberg, was awarded the Special Jury Prize Silver Bear and the Blue Angel Award at the 46th Berlin International Film Festival, the Audience Award at Gothenburg Film Festival, and 3 Guldbagge Awards. The film was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Bo Widerberg has also directed theatre, including at Dramaten and Malmö Stadsteater, in addition to TV theater for SVT.

In 1996, he started the well-known Lilla film festival at Bio Scala in Båstad, which occurs annually at the beginning of August; what he called "the film festival of conversation and socializing" for quality film screenings and discussions in the more intimate format. In memory of the founder, the festival has been awarding the Bo Widerberg scholarship since 1997 to filmmakers who work in Widerberg's spirit.

Death and legacy

Widerberg died in Ängelholm, Sweden on 1 May 1997 of stomach cancer and was buried in the New Cemetery in Båstad. He had four children: Nina, Martin, Johan, and Matilda. Johan has become an actor and his son Martin became a director. As a child, Nina Widerberg acted in five of her father's films, including Barnvagnen and The Man on the Roof. Johan played Detective Kollberg's son in The Man on the Roof.

In conjunction with the City Tunnel in Malmö, a small plaza around the southern entrance to the train, named Bo Widerberg place, was inaugurated in 2010. The site is located near Widerberg's former residence in the city.^[1]

As director

Source:^[7]

• The Boy and the Kite [sv] (1962) (30 min short film, photography by Jan Troell)
• The Baby Carriage [sv] (1963)
• Raven's End (1963)
• Love 65 (1965)
• Heja Roland! (1966)
• Elvira Madigan (1967)
• The White Game (1968)
• Ådalen 31 (1969)
• A Mother with Two Children Expecting Her Third (1970) (7 min short film, interview with Vanessa Redgrave)
• Joe Hill (1971)
• Stubby (1974)
• The Man on the Roof (1976)
• En handelsresandes död [sv] (1979) (TV film)
• Måsen (1979) (TV film)
• Victoria (1979)
• Missförståndet (1981) (TV film)
• Linje Lusta (1981) (TV film)
• Rött och svart (1982) (unfinished)
• The Man from Majorca (1984)
• Ormens väg på hälleberget (The Serpent's Way, 1986)
• En far (1988) (TV film)
• Vildanden (The Wild Duck, 1989) (TV film)
• Hebriana [sv] (1990) (TV film)
• Efter föreställningen (1992) (TV film)
• Tagning Alla är äldre än jag ... (1994) (unfinished)
• All Things Fair (1995)