AFI FILM FEST: A WINDOW ON SOME FAR SHORES : SATURDAY

“Wives and Wives--Ten Years After” (Norway, 1975 and 1985, 174 minutes, 12 p.m.). This work--actually two films, made 10 years apart--is probably one of the festival’s most unexpectedly delightful offerings: a feminist comedy that twists around your expectations and digs up something poignant, playful, real, even joyous. Writer-director Anja Beien, taking off from Cassavetes’ “Husbands,” presents the same situation from a distaff angle: Three old friends, meeting at a school reunion, take an extended hooky-adventure; 10 years later, they meet at another reunion and do it again. The actresses are wonderful, and if they mature markedly during the decade, so does Breien’s directorial style; unknown here, she may be one of Norway’s finest film makers. Recommended.