At the turn of the Twentieth Century, Maria, a young working-class woman in Sweden, won a camera in a lottery. Family lore says the camera was a part of the story leading to her marriage to Sigfrid Larsson. But for many years the camera stayed buried in a drawer while Sigge and Maria struggled with life and family.

Sigfrid was a hard worker—and at times a hard drinker. When Maria digs out the camera to sell to bring some money to the family, she meets photographer Sebastian Pedersen (known as "Piff Paff Puff") who encourages her to use the camera, awakening in her a talent and a new way of seeing the world.

Everlasting Moments tells Maria's story in a visually beautiful manner that befits a tale that deals with cameras and photographic art. At one level is it an interesting look at life in early Twentieth Century Sweden. It is a time of social change and unrest. Communism is on the rise. (This is all before the Russian Revolution.) The Temperance Movement is also a part of the social fabric. Both of these play a part in the story. Sigge follows the Communist unionizers at the docks and soon has no job. The family goes to Temperance meetings, and Sigge tries to maintain sobriety, but often fails. In one scene when he is brought home by friends, the drunken Sigge sings songs about redemption and repentance as he struggles up the stairs.

Sigge can be quite charming and affectionate, but can also be abusive. At one point Maria has had enough and returns to her parents' home where she is told she must go back. "What God has joined together must not be torn asunder." And so she puts up with his philandering and his drunkenness. Then, through her camera, she finds her way of expression and her way of knowing her own worth outside of the constraints of family in a paternalistic society. She is able to grow, and in that development she and the family benefit.

But more than story of a different time or of a woman's finding of herself, this is also a film that celebrates the art that makes film possible. The film is intensely visual with enough time allowed to consider what we are seeing. Photography (including motion pictures) captures a moment in time, but even more it captures life as it is being lived. After a child has wandered onto thin ice and died, the child's mother wants Maria to take a picture of the child laid out for the funeral so she can remember. Maria does take the picture, but also captures the neighborhood children staring in the window at the body.

The film also subtly notes the limits of this art form. Even though the camera may capture a bit of life within its frame, it never tells a whole story. A camera may fix someone in a moment of time, but that moment is not the end of a story. Sigge is more than any one particular scene, as an illustration of this point; he rises from failure and changes throughout the film. This is made evident at the film's end as Maria's eldest daughter Maja (who narrates the film) reflects on why her mother stayed with Sigge. There is just too much we don't see in this film or in any picture that can tell us what the bond was that held them together through times of trouble. And when we see Maria's final photograph we know that that picture doesn't tell us nearly as much as we would like to know.

We are told that primitive people sometimes eschew photography because they believe it captures or steals a part of one's soul. In watching Everlasting Moments we may conclude there is some truth to that idea. In Maria's hands the camera did capture more than bits of light and dark to form a picture. Often the photographs showed the inner life that might slip past if not for the image on film. We are reminded that there is indeed more to the life and people around us than we may see.