Film Review
Gertrud was the last film to
be directed by the legendary Danish auteur filmmaker Carl Theodor
Dreyer and is arguably his most beguiling and most perfectly composed
work.
Adapted from a 1920s stage play by Hjalmar Söderberg,
the film explores the notion of free will and whether it is ever
possible for a human being to experience true love, untainted by baser
motives and worldly compromises. Whilst the film is highly
regarded today, and is considered by many to be Dreyer's finest
achievement, it was generally ill-received when it was first released
in 1964, with many critics writing off its austere stylisation as
laboured theatricality.
One of the most striking things about Dreyer's work is the diversity of
subjects that he covers in the fourteen films he made. These
range from the martyrdom of Joan of Arc in
La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc
(1928) to religious conflict in a small Danish village in
Ordet
(1955), via an inspired adaptation of Le Fanu's vampire story
Carmilla,
Vampyr
(1932). Yet there is also a remarkable coherence in Dreyer's
oeuvre, with recurring stylistic and thematic motifs that make a very
distinctive hallmark.
One theme that runs through most, if not all, of Dreyer's films is the
suffering of women, often as a consequence of male cruelty or
neglect.
Gertrud both
epitomises and transcends the Dreyer heroine - she is a victim, but she
is a victim of her own choice. The tragedy that she experiences
is one that is entirely of her own making, and one that she would
doubtless repeat if she were able to live her life again. For
her, love is the only thing that matters in life. If she settles
for a mere imitation of love, then she will have betrayed her own
beliefs. The parallels between the Maid of Orleans and Gertrud
are not too difficult to discern. Just as Joan surrenders her
life for her religious beliefs, Gertrud does pretty much the same for
the great motivating force in her life, love.
Another linking theme in Dreyer's films is the auteur's striving for
authenticity, which goes beyond mere naturalism. In his early
silent films, Dreyer was one of the first filmmakers to appreciate the
power of the close-up, how this could be used to allow an actor to
convey his character's inner feelings with the minimum of external
gestures. Even in his last film, Dreyer (now aged 75) is still
experimenting, still looking for ways to negate artifice from an
actor's performance and the director's mise-en-scène, to leave
only the truth. Here, he achieves his goal by embedding his
actors in a sea of unreal stillness. Long takes abolish the
distraction of cuts and emphasise the lack of movement in the
frame. Dreyer does this because he wants every gesture made by an
actor to have a significance, allowing the audience to see into
his character's interior world.
Although the characters in this film inhabit the same physical space,
emotionally they appear to be worlds apart. In virtually all of
her dialogue exchanges, Gertrud is looking away
from her interlocutor, unwilling or unable to establish any kind of
human bond with another character. Dreyer intentionally inhibited his
actors from looking at one another to emphasise this sense of
separation and also to prevent them from sparking off one
another. The shot composition and restrained camerawork achieve a similar
result. Gertrud's ultimate fate becomes immediately evident when
we see her framed in her treasured rococo mirror - she appears trapped,
alone, in her own perfect universe. Like Joan in the courtroom
that will decide her fate, Gertrud remains true to her beliefs, holding
herself back for the one true love that will make her a complete
woman. What immediately strikes us as Greek tragedy can be seen
as something more positive - the glorious triumph of the individual who
has remained true to his ideals - just like Dreyer himself. How
appropriate that Dreyer's last film can be read as a celebration of the
auteur.
© James Travers 2010
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Next Carl Theodor Dreyer film:
The President (1919)
Film Synopsis
Gertrud Kanning, a retired opera singer living in Stockholm, is unhappy
in her married life. She tells her husband Gustav, a lawyer with
a promising political career ahead of him, that she intends to leave
him as she no longer loves him. Gertrud is having an affair with
a talented young musician, Erland Jansson, and she plans to begin a new
life with him. Coincidentally, an old flame of Gertrud's suddenly
re-enters her life. During a party held in his honour, the
celebrated poet Gabriel Lidman attempts to revive Gertrud's erstwhile
passion for him, unsuccessfully. Gertrud's dreams of a new
romance are then shattered when she learns that Erland is seeing
another woman and has no intention of committing himself to her.
On the spur of the moment, she leaves Gustav and heads for Paris, to
join her friend Axel Nygen, a professor of psychology. Will
Gertrud at last find the happiness she is looking for, or is her search
for true love destined to end in failure...?
© James Travers
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