Combustible Celluloid Review - Gertrud (1964), Carl Theodor Dreyer, based on a play by Hjalmar Söderberg, Carl Theodor Dreyer, Nina Pens Rode, Bendt Rothe, Ebbe Rode, Baard Owe, Axel Strøbye, Karl Gustav Ahlefeldt, Vera Gebuhr, Lars Knutzon, Anna Malberg, Edouard Mielche
Combustible Celluloid
 
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With: Nina Pens Rode, Bendt Rothe, Ebbe Rode, Baard Owe, Axel Strøbye, Karl Gustav Ahlefeldt, Vera Gebuhr, Lars Knutzon, Anna Malberg, Edouard Mielche
Written by: Carl Theodor Dreyer, based on a play by Hjalmar Söderberg
Directed by: Carl Theodor Dreyer
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Language: Danish, with English subtitles
Running Time: 119
Date: 12/19/1964
IMDB

Gertrud (1964)

4 Stars (out of 4)

Love Trilogy

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Carl Theodor Dreyer's Gertrud (1964) may be the most multifaceted of his later films, focusing on the middle-aged title character (Nina Pens Rode) who can't seem to find love. She's grown disinterested with her politician husband, spurns the love of a famous poet, chases after a flighty young composer, and loses all three. Once again, Dreyer's silky camera movements capture the very soul of this character on film. When Gertrud was released, cinema had changed into a faster, hipper, younger medium, and the film was not welcomed. It was considered stuffy and slow. Only the French auteurists at Cahiers du Cinema and America's Andrew Sarris praised the film, and -- of course -- it turns out that they were right. Some priceless home-movie footage included on the DVD shows Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard and actress Anna Karina fawning over the 70-something Dreyer at the movie's Paris premiere. It's available on DVD as part of the Criterion Collection's Carl Th. Dreyer: My Métier box set.

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