#Ordet

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Cinediario 2023 - luglio

Ordet (1955) Carl Theodor Dreyer

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Ordet (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1955)

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Ordet (1955)

Directed by Carl Th. Dreyer

Cinematography by Henning Bendtsen

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''I believe a lot of little miracles happen secretly.''

Ordet (1955) dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer

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Ordet, 1955 - dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer

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Preben Lerdorff Rye in Ordet (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1955)

Cast: Henrik Malberg, Emil Hass Christensen, Birgitte Federspiel, Preben Lerdorff Rye, Cay Kristiansen, Ejner Federspiel, Gerda Nielsen, Sylvia Eckhausen, Ove Rud, Henry Skjaer. Screenplay: Carl Theodor Dreyer, based on a play by Kaj Munk Cinematography: Henning Bendtsen. Production design: Erik Aaes. Film editing: Edit Schlüssel. Music: Poul Schierbeck. 

As a non-believer, I find the story told by Ordet objectively preposterous, but it raises all the right questions about the nature of religious belief. Ordet, the kind of film you find yourself thinking about long after it's over, is about the varieties of religious faith, from the lack of it, embodied by Mikkel Borgen (Emil Hass Christensen), to the mad belief of Mikkel's brother Johannes (Preben Lerdorff Rye) that he is in fact Jesus Christ. Although Mikkel is a non-believer, his pregnant wife, Inger (Birgitte Federspiel), maintains a simple belief in the goodness of God and humankind. The head of the Borgen family, Morten (Henrik Malberg), regularly attends church, but it's a relatively liberal modern congregation, headed by a pastor (Ove Rud) who denies the possibility of miracles in a world in which God has established physical laws, although he doesn't have a ready answer when he's asked about the miracles in the Bible. When Morten's youngest son, Anders (Cay Kristiansen), falls in love with a young woman (Gerda Nielsen), her father, Peter (Ejner Federspiel), who belongs to a very conservative sect, forbids her to marry Anders. Then everyone's faith or lack of it is put to test when Inger goes into labor. The doctor (Henry Skjaer) thinks he has saved her life by aborting the fetus, but Inger dies. As she is lying in her coffin, Peter arrives to tell Morten that her death has made him realize his lack of charity and that Anders can marry his daughter. Then Inger is restored to life with the help of Johannes and the simple faith of her young daughter. Embracing Inger, Mikkel now proclaims that he is a believer. The conundrum of faith and evidence runs through the film.  For example, if the only thing that can restore one's faith is a miracle, can we really call that faith? What makes Ordet work -- in fact, what makes it a great film -- is that it poses such questions without attempting answers. It subverts all our expectations about what a serious-minded film about religion -- not the phony piety of Hollywood biblical epics -- should be. Dreyer and cinematographer Henning Bendtsen keep everything deceptively simple: Although the film takes place in only a few sparely decorated settings, the reliance on very long single takes and a slowly traveling camera has a documentary-like effect that engages a kind of conviction on the part of the audience that makes the shock of Inger's resurrection more unsettling. We don't usually expect to find our expectations about the way things are -- or the way movies should treat them -- so rudely and so provocatively exploded.

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'Ordet' – Carl Dreyer searches for grace on Criterion Collection

One of the most powerful and profound films about faith ever made, Carl Dreyer’s Ordet (Denmark, 1955) (which translates to “The Word”) turns a Romeo and Juliet story into a passionately spiritual drama of love and acceptance. Anders (Cay Kristiansen) and Anne (Gerda Nielsen) are young lovers in rural farming community, he the son of proud farmer Morten (Henrik Malberg), she the only daughter of…

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ordet - 1955

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P. Staff. Full Rotation

Mostra a Milano dell’artista inglese P. Staff il cui lavoro attinge ad un vasto assortimento di ispirazioni dalla letteratura alla danza, all’astrologia

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Ordet (The Word) (1955)

A religious community with feuding factions is beset with life events like love, birth, and deaths; some wmay lose their faith and others may find it anew.

The main character is the grandfather and we follow him pretty closely but not exclusively, occasionally leaving him to focus on other members of his family. However the main focus is always the religious debate which creates parallels between the different belief systems and discusses the interpretations and practises of faith.

Although it’s clearly an attempt to portray religion as intrinsically good but represented by followers in misguided ways, there are still many aspects that depict it as predatory. The only true believers are the mentally afflicted or the young and naive. Even when someone has just died, the most devout follower comes in the guise of saviour and miracle worker but mostly assigns blame and demands worship to make good on his promise.

Some of the parallels between religious insitutions and family relationships are interesting, like demanding children marry approved partners in order to maintain the ideals of their elders. The cinematography is fairly simple, depicting the homes more as theatre than film and adding some realism to what will turn out to be a supernatural story.

One hopes that the message isn’t one intended to convert the viewer to religion since the techniques would be considered underhanded and manipulative in that regard. Even the ending is one that is lessa miracle than a necessity of narrative structure since the plot and subtext only works if it leads to the resurrection foregrounded throughout.

3/10 -This one’s bad but it’s got some good in it, just there-

-It has been mentioned by the director of The Exorcist (1973) that this was the main influence, despite not containing a possession.

-The film only has 3 close-up shots.

-The audio of the birth scene was taken from the actual labor of the actress playing Inger.

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Ordet (1955) Carl Theodor Dreyer

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Ordet (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1955)

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