Maria Larsson's Everlasting Moments (2008)

Veteran Swedish director Jan Troell emerges from the shadow of cinema great Ingmar Bergman with this beautifully observed period drama that explores how a working-class family woman snatches some respite from her everyday struggles by taking photos with a simple box camera. The movie is based on the life of a relative of the film-maker's wife and is an unfashionably leisurely account of times past and time passing, which nevertheless draws us into the world it depicts through sheer storytelling skill and the force of its compassion. Maria Heiskanen's doughty central performance holds it all together as she sticks by her boozy, lovable lout of a husband (Mikael Persbrandt), and discovers unexpected self-worth when she peers through the viewfinder. Her talent to select the decisive moment that gives an image lasting life is a skill shared by Troell, who delivers a masterpiece with this composed, affecting window on our common humanity.