Continuing my countdown of the final ten in 100 consecutive movie nights!
Dir. Carl Dreyer, starring Lisbeth Movin, Thorkild Roose, Preben Lerdorff Rye, Anna Svierkier.
I felt a sudden urge to find another film made during WWII under German occupation, this time in Denmark, but Day of Wrath could not be more different than Les Enfants du Paradis.
It’s not the kind of subject matter I’ve been watching lately, since I’ve been trying to avoid depressing movies, but it’s Dreyer (The Passion of Joan of Arc) so I knew it would be masterfully made. The story is set in rural Denmark during the witch trials, and begins with the hunting down, torture and burning of an old woman accused by her neighbours. The local parson’s very young second wife is horrified by all this, but you just know she is headed down the same road when she begins to be attracted to her husband’s son by his first wife. Oh, and her shrewish mother-in-law hates her guts. So…
[Note: I haven’t spilled everything here, there are still several good surprises along the way.]
Dreyer always insisted that the film was not a commentary on current events, and it’s true that Day of Wrath is very much in line with his previous films, most especially The Passion of Joan of Arc. The film was, however, generally interpreted to be a condemnation of Nazi interrogation methods and torture. It was certainly a film about the soul-crushing nature of life in a strict, authoritarian society, so still very relevant. In light of the way others were interpreting the film, Dreyer decided it might be safer to leave Denmark, and spent the remainder of the war in Sweden.
The cinematography is stunning, the stark black and white is again well-served by those elderly faces framed in puritan black clothing with white, ruffed collars. (He’s been here before.) The acting is impressive as well, especially Anna Svierkier as Herlofs Marte the condemned witch, and Thorkild Roose as the parson. The exteriors are dreamily beautiful and the interiors bare and spartan. Everyone moves slowly and quietly, so much so that it’s shocking when Anne (the wife) bursts out in laughter at one point.
I have to say, however, that in the end I didn’t care what happened to the two main characters, since the outcome seemed so pre-ordained. The character I cared about the most was Herlofs Marte and she was dispatched fairly quickly. Anna Svierkier’s performance is wonderful and heartbreaking.
This is a dark and humorless film, with a dark and humorless intent, and while it’s beautiful and brilliant in many ways, once Herlofs Marte left the scene I was just not invested in the story. For life-altering Dreyer, though, do see The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), which is very rightly considered one of the greatest films ever made. For weird and creepy Dreyer see Vampyr (1932). And for (actually!) humorous Dreyer, see Master of the House (1925), or even better, The Parson’s Widow (1920), which is really funny, in a Danish kind of way.
Day of Wrath, Joan of Arc, Vampyr, and Master of the House are all currently available on the Criterion Channel. The Parson’s Widow I found on youtube.
