Tuesday, March 08, 2016

Ordet


Ordet is an award-winning 1955 Danish film directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer. It centers around the conflicting religious beliefs among the family members in this rural home. One son went mad under the influence of his study of Kierkegaard, thinks he's Jesus, and wanders the house and grounds proclaiming the loss of faith in this age; another son has lost his faith completely, but his pregnant wife and mother of his children comforts him with her belief that his faith will return in due time; and the third son has fallen in love and wants to marry the daughter of the tailor, who is a leader in a local fundamentalist Christian sect and doesn't acknowledge the farmer's family as being Christian.

trailer:



There are several coffee scenes, one particularly touching one during which the daughter-in-law serves the farmer coffee and home-made cakes to soften him up to accept the younger son's romantic intentions. The father asks, "What's all this? Coffee at this time of day?" and after she has plead her case he says that now he knows why she served the coffee and cake.

It's a beautiful, sensitive, miracle of a film. I'm very glad I discovered this director. I've also enjoyed his The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) and Vampyr (1932).

Arts and Faith has it on their list of the 100 most spiritually significant films and calls it "one of the most beautifully photographed films ever made". The Guardian concludes, "A film with a hypnotic, irresistible stare."

Senses of Cinema closes with this:
In our digital age, we are being inundated with movies that question the reality of the real and encourage us to retreat into fantasies that have very little to do with the real world, to the point that it is no longer only the ivory tower that doubts the material being of the world. Dreyer’s every frame gives us back a solid, real world. And if, in the minds of many, life is now nothing but a dream, any transcendent encounter with a personal God is now not even a dream; it is a delusion from which we have thankfully awakened. Any belief in the supernatural is relegated to the harmless realm of the personal and subjective. Dreyer’s films, however, all insist that the supernatural is real and ever-present, with or without our consent.
FilmReference.com calls it "an enormously accomplished work of film art". Time Out gives it 5 out of 5 stars and opens its review with this: "'Powerful' doesn't do justice to this 1955 exploration of life, death and faith". Roger Ebert has it on his Great Movies list and says, "The film stands utterly and fearlessly alone." Rotten Tomatoes has a critics score of 100%.

Please join the T Party over at the Altered Books Blog.

20 comments:

  1. Great review. Sounds like a film that I would enjoy and from the critics it seems to be a Must See.

    ReplyDelete
  2. sounds like a lovely film. Thanks for sharing your review and the trailer too. Happy T day!

    ReplyDelete
  3. At last you're reviewing a film I know! Happy T Day, sorry I'm late today, I was at Rehab/Boot camp all day! Hugs, Valerie

    ReplyDelete
  4. Looks and sounds like an interesting film.
    Happy T Day
    oxo

    ReplyDelete
  5. I was impressed with the picture you shared. Everyone around the kitchen table drinking coffee really piqued my interest. Then I was drawn in by your review, and the review from all the critics. If Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 100%, I will have to see if I can find it somewhere.

    Thanks for sharing this film trailer and your review with us for T this Tuesday.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have the DVD, but this one sometimes shows up online if your computer cooperates. Right now youtube has it divided into 2 parts. You have to click the CC button in the lower right on that screen to get English subtitles. part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWK_s93AhFo part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mURITCRtfFM

      Delete
  6. it's so interesting how the ritual of having coffee (or tea) with something baked is a way that we relate to each other in various circumstances. Perhaps its comforting to do the familiar. The film certainly looks like it's a great one. Did you have any trouble keeping up with the subtitles? sometimes I have difficulty reading them fast enough, or they don't show up very well against the background...looks intriguing though!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The subtitles were short and didn't go by too quickly, and the copy I watched had good contrast. It can be a problem, I agree, but I didn't have trouble with this one.

      Delete
  7. Sounds interesting! Happy T-Day!
    oxo+Susi

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank you for sharing the review. I think it is a interesting but sad story.
    Happy T day

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow! I went directly to Netflix, found it, and put it at the top of my queue. Sounds like an amazing movie! Thanks. Happy T-Day! :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. That looks like a great film. Thanks for sharing that. Living in Spain, there is not much chance of finding that film unless it can be found on YouTube. I will have a look. I've not heard of Netflix, but I could try that site too.
    Thanks for sharing.
    Elizabeth's computer freezes every time she visits my blog and gets a message 'Mozilla Firefox not responding'.I have never heard of Mozilla Firefox and am not conscious of using it... Do you get the same problem?
    Have a good week,
    Lisca

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mozilla Firefox is an internet server much like Explore or google . It has stronger firewalls and is suppose to be more secure against virus and the such. It's also much more restrictive about where you can go. I had it for a while and gave it up.. it's not good for blogs or sites like Facebook .

      Delete
    2. I have the Mozilla Firefox browser on my computer but rarely use it. I use Chrome as my browser: https://www.google.com/chrome/

      Lisca, I haven't had any trouble accessing your blog. I love hearing about what it's like there! :)

      Delete
  11. I will have to watch on the big computer! It looks good though! Happy T day! Chrisx

    ReplyDelete
  12. The movie does sound really good and I love the fact that the background music is soft and subtle. Current movies blare you out with the loud music and I can't stand that. Have a great week and thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I've never heard of this movie, but then lots of the film you put up and new to me.Makes me realize how I am NOT up on films from any era. happy T day!!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I've never heard of this movie, but then lots of the film you put up and new to me.Makes me realize how I am NOT up on films from any era. happy T day!!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. i always love your cinematic tips and you often come up with movies i never heard of before.
    (well, the Videos are mostly not to be viewed here in Germany, seem to be Copyright restrictions or such)
    happy belated t-day and rest of the week!

    ReplyDelete