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Mikaël
1924 Drama
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Credits
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Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer
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Script: Herman Bang, Thea von Harbou, Carl Theodor Dreyer
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Photo: Karl Freund
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Music: Hans Joseph Vieth
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Cast: Walter Slezak (Mikaël),
Max Auzinger (Jules - Majordomo),
Nora Gregor (Princess Lucia Zamikoff),
Robert Garrison (Charles Switt - Journalist),
Benjamin Christensen (Claude Zoret),
Dider Aslan (Duc de Monthieu),
Alexander Murski (Mr. Adelsskjold),
Grete Mosheim (Mrs. Alice Adelsskjold),
Karl Freund (LeBlanc - Art Dealer),
Wilhelmine Sandrock (Widow de Monthieu),
Mady Christians (Woman)
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Country: Germany / Denmark
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Language: German
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Runtime: 90 min; B&W; silent
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Aka: Chained; Chained: The Story of the Third Sex; Heart's Desire; Michael
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Summary
Claude Zoret is one of the greatest and wealthiest artists of his day. His success
derives from the source of his inspiration: a young man named Mikaël, who is both
his model and his protégé. The close relationship between the two
men becomes strained when Zoret accepts a commission to paint a portrait of the Princess
Zamikoff. Whilst the artist embarks on a further painting, depicting the betrayal
of César by Brutus, Mikaël begins a love affair with the princess. Zoret
is tormented when he learns that his adopted son has sold one of his masterpieces to pay
off his lover’s debts. Despite Mikaël’s increasingly wayward streak, Zoret
cannot bear to let him go…
Review
The complex relationship between an artist and his inspiration is a subject that has been
explored ad nauseam in literature, theatre and cinema, but rarely as intensely and with
such insight as in this silent film from the Danish film director Carl Theodor Dreyer.
Based on a 1902 novel of the same title by Danish writer Herman Bang, Mikaël
treads new ground both technically and in terms of content – it presages Dreyer’s
subsequent great masterpieces and also courts controversy by depicting what is quite unequivocally
an intimate male-male relationship.
Visually, the film is a triumph, on a par with most of the landmark films of the
silent era. The expansive, sumptuous sets, decorated with genuine works of art,
suggest a world of opulence, but one that is confining, reinforcing the message that Mikaël
is a prisoner, being both financially and psychologically dependent on his master, Zoret.
Legendary cinematographer Karl Freund lends the film its striking expressionistic look.
His use of close-ups allow Dreyer to imbue his drama with a psychological intensity, conveying
raw emotions to harrowing effect. Freund also makes his one and only appearance
in this film, playing a jovial art dealer.
Whilst aesthetically the film is not
as satisfying and daring as some of Dreyer’s later works (for example, the ending lacks
the dramatic punch it deserves), Mikaël is
a compelling piece of silent cinema, and an indication of the kind of risks its director
was prepared to take with potentially “difficult” subjects. At the time, references
to homosexuality in cinema were few and far between, and any overtly gay character would
almost certainly ruin the film’s chances of making any money. This is pretty much
the fate that Mikaël suffered. Having
failed to sell in Europe, the film was played in America, where it was re-titled “The
Story of the Third Sex” (as if its distributors wanted to dissociate themselves with the
film’s content). Branded as junk by some critics, the film quickly fell into obscurity,
and has remained pretty well forgotten for the best part of eight decades. Recently
restored, and available to a more sympathetic audience than it had in the 1920s, Mikaël
can finally be appreciated for its true artistic merits.
© James Travers 2006
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