Carl Theodor Dreyer Collection

Description

Collection of films directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer. In ‘Day of Wrath’ (1943), set in 17th-century Denmark, elderly pastor Absalon Pedersson (Thorkild Roose) is cursed at the stake by a peasant woman (Anna Svierkier) whom he has tortured into a confession of witchcraft. Soon after, Absalon’s young wife Anne (Lisbeth Movin) begins an affair with his son Martin (Preben Ledorff Rye). When Anne tells Absalon of her love for Martin, the old man suffers a fatal heart attack and she too finds herself being faced with accusations of witchcraft. In ‘Ordet’ (1955), head of the family Peter Borgen (Ejner Federspiel) forbids his younger son Anders (Cay Kristiansen) to marry his girlfriend Anne (Gerda Nielsen) because her family belongs to a different Protestant sect. The ecclesiastical debate strikes to the community’s heart, with only Inger (Birgitte Federspiel), the wife of Peter’s eldest son Mikkel (Emil Hass Christensen), bridging the religious divide. In ‘Gertrud’ (1964), Nina Pens Rode stars as the eponymous politician’s wife who decides to leave her husband (Bendt Rothe) just as he is about to take his place in government. Intending to move in with a young composer (Ebbe Rode), her plans change when she discovers that he has been unfaithful to her. In ‘Master of the House’ (1925), Johannes Meyer plays Victor Fransden, a businessman who takes out all his frustrations on his wife Ida (Astrid Holm) and family. Ida accepts the abuse and incessant fault-finding until one day his former nanny (Mathilde Nielsen) decides that she cannot bear to watch any more. She persuades Ida to leave Victor, and forces the erring husband to undertake all the household chores himself in an attempt to make him see the error of his ways.