Gertrud

Carl Theodor Dreyer, Denmark, 1964, 116 minutes

This is Dreyer's most controversial film, his last in a series of masterpieces which gave cinema some of its prestige as a modem art form capable of competing with its classic predecessors. The Passion of Joan of Arc, Vampyr, Day of Wrath and Ordet were all greeted upon their release with dithyrambic comments, and in the cases of The Passion... and Ordet this reputation has been legitimised within the community of directors and film critics. With Gertrud though the case is somewhat different. The film upon its release was met with uproar and disappointinent. Only around the late sixties did Gertrud become to be considered as equally prestigious as Dreyer's previous films.

It deals with the agonies of a woman around her forties (Nina Pens Rode in the eponymous role) regarding the compromise and prior agreement around her marriage. She rejects her husband, but her lover proves equally incapable of meeting her expectations; she eventually withdraws in isolation...

Dreyer's film appeared problematic at that time - but it also appears problematic to the modem viewer - in terms of its static nature, which gives rise to hasty comparisons with Ordet. Dreyer had serious problems getting finance for his films and this depravity enhanced his already uncompromising attitude to cinema, with results overtly detectable in Gertrud. With endless conversations on sofas and salons, it was immediately confused and interpreted as being an elitist piece of work. But Dreyer's film is such a wealthy spring of technical contrivances (frugal decoration of walls with objects being expounded in terms of symbolism, unresolved camerawork etc) that makes one suspicious of Dreyer's aim which might have been no other than to transcend the ordinary conventions of film-making but above all of film-viewing. Thus, the viewer is left with unresolved processes, which contrary to expectation, render the psychological implications of the film all the more devastating. There are scenes of pure Dreyer magic such as the one with Gertrud and Axel discussing about the former's father and his belief in destiny. Geurud recalling the memory of her father turns slowly towards a tapestry and we're confronted, as the camera moves back, with a painting of a woman in a forest surrounded by wild dogs.

A truly hypnotic film, despite the fact that it remains difficult viewing even for cinephiles accustomed to slow and long takes, and one which surpasses its difficult form through the humanity and warmth of its context.

Review by Spiros Gangas
Taken from EUFS Programme 1993-94