Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

As an American of Norwegian ancestry I honestly approached this movie with an open mind. I was anxious to see how Norwegians lived in the 13th century. In a love story, it's vital to have actors who have chemistry on screen and make the audience feel their pain at not being able to be together. That did not happen in this movie. I simply could not get past the advanced age of all the actors. Talk about wrinkles! What made it worse was all those close up camera shots! Whoa! Back up the camera or use a filtered lens, please! The actor who played Kristen's love interest Erlend was 45 years old when the movie was made in 1995. Did people even live that long in the 13th century? Couldn't they find someone more visually appealing like Norwegian actor Dennis Storhoi (The 13th Warrior)? Even Simon, Kristen's betrothed who was cast by the wayside was younger and more appealing than Erlend. I was kind of turned off by the fact that a worn out, middle aged man was pursuing a much younger woman (although she looked about 10 years older than her character's age). I was unable to believe the passion between them because of their huge age difference. In contrast, the actress who played Erlend's former love interest Eline was a very beautiful actress closer in age to Erlend, and she had very little screen time, yet the actress who played Kristen was very, very plain and in virtually every scene. Once I saw Eline on the screen, I could not imagine that Erlend would leave such a beautiful woman for the plain, uninteresting farm girl Kristen. Another strange thing was the creepy grin that Erlend's sidekick Ulv always had on his face. He reminded me of a pervert. My next complaint is that the story moves along at a snail's pace at three hours. This story could have easily wrapped up in only one hour. It is claimed that at the time this movie was released in Norway, half the country went to see it. I wish I knew how many Norwegian were as disappointed as I after they paid money to see it. While I understand that there are Norwegians who loved this movie and are very proud of their hometown girl, director Liv Ullmann, they are surely a bit biased. They can't expect everyone else to share their passion for this waste of time. Liv claims to have spent one year preparing for this movie. It certainly doesn't show. Maybe she should have spend a bigger part of that year auditioning better actors instead of clearing out the local retirement home at the last minute before everyone died. This was a very disappointing film and watching grass grow may prove to be a faster and more rewarding endeavor if you have a lot of extra time on your hands.

A beautifully directed, well acted, and consistently faithful adaptation of the first of Sigrid Undset's Nobel Prize-winning novels about her fourteenth-century fictitious heroine, Kristin Lavransdatter. The movie perfectly captures the genius of the novel(s), the external and internal drama of a young woman's struggle with pride and sin, her rebellion against the good and yet her longing for it. Kristin's religious milieu, sympathetically but not sentimentally portrayed in the movie, forms a powerful backdrop against which this drama plays out. My only regret is that they did not make sequels out of the second and third Lavransdatter novels to complete the trilogy, since, indeed, the ending of the movie and of the first novel leave you hungering for more.

It follows the first book in the trilogy very faithfully. Many scenes were actually just as I had imagined them while reading the books.The photography is breathtaking and the sets amazing. According to scholars of fourteenth century Norway, the attention to detail in depicting every day life and customs is very authentic.The costumes are beautiful and the actors, without exception, perfect for the parts. We were riveted!Buy the DVD with the uncut version and extras. Definitely worthwhile watching more than once... or twice... or thrice....!!!I hope Liv Ullmann will film the other two books as well. And soon!Don't miss this remarkable movie.

I don't speak Norwegian..not a single word...but I didn't read half the subtitles of this movie, I was so engrossed in the visuals. When I watched it again, I read the subtitles...and realized that I had understood the entire thing despite the lack of paying attention to language. That said...this movie was stunning. It was quite long, and there were a few bits that dragged a bit, but the good made up for the not-as-good ten times. The photography of the Norwegian landscape is astounding, and the acting is subtle and completely believable. The dialog is more sparse than most movies that I've seen, but adding a single word more would become verbose. This is the story of a young woman in medieval Europe who rebells against what she is expected to do and lives to get what she wants, and deals with the consequences which run deep. (The church-burning scene had me in tears)