Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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58 of 59 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Criterion's Best Boxed Set Yet, September 5, 2001
I purchased this box set having only previously seen Dreyer's Day of Wrath (and Passion of Joan of Arc, which although not included is available separately on a great disc from Criterion as well) and I had little preconception of Ordet and Gertrud except that they were supposed masterpieces. Upon watching the 3 films and documentary included, I realize Dreyer's reputation as an intense stylist & perfectionist is well deserved. His films have a reputation for being unbearable to watch, apparently, but I didn't find them to be horrible at all. They do not have much in the way of entertainment value (Ordet contains the sole explicit joke in the 3 films), but aspire to loftier goals. The films are filled with slow, long tracking shots and feature progressively fewer close-ups. All of the films are exceptionally talky by today's standards, and all feature stunning manipulation of light to suggest emotional states of the characters. Of the three films, I felt Ordet was the best. The film caught me off guard with its ability to shock me with its beauty and raw emotion. This is probably the best filmic exploration of religion that I have ever seen. The characters are archetypes, to be sure, but the actors embody them with enough emotion that they transcend them. The film has perhaps the most powerful, subtle use of special effects that I have ever seen. I feel this is one of the absolute masterpieces of cinema and am eager to revisit it. Gertrud is a lesser film than Ordet, though not by much. Like Ordet, the films characters are archetypes, but somehow transcend them. I think these three films are amazingly adept at establishing an "at the speed of life" pacing that lulls us into thinking we're watching real people with real concerns as the themes leap into universal territory. Gertrud's character is one of the most interesting pre-feminist women I've seen in cinema and I think Dreyer's refusal to judge her in any way saves the film from being the bore that many find it. Day of Wrath is probably the simplest of the three films, but it is still a great work. Ironically, it's the film with the most outward action in it, and it has the most outwardly accessible subject matter, so I'm surprised it appealed to me the least. Nonetheless, it's gorgeous, impeccably acted, and has plenty of dramatic heft. As a viewer of modern film, I notice that these three films bear deep thematic resemblances to the films of cinema's other Great Dane, Lars von Trier. I would be so bold as to call the majority of von Trier's work a homage to Dreyer's oeuvre. Of course, one of his first projects was the realization of Dreyer's unfilmed script for Medea. A few years later, his Europa echoed the theme of Day of Wrath (suspicion of guilt becomes self-fulfilling prophecy). Obviously, Breaking the Waves and Ordet share last-minute religious redemption, but consider the leads of his The Idiots and Dreyer's Gertrud. Both are victims/martyrs of their adherence to an ideal, and that no one in their community can match it... and what is Dancer in the Dark if not a musical celebration of cinema that at the same time evokes Passion of Joan of Arc? I don't feel this reduces either director's films... rather I feel this set of old classics has enabled me to better examine some new ones. Also, the fourth disc is a somewhat middling documentary that, while cute, seems to focus more on recalling the mannerisms of the director than the intent of his work or the critical reactions to it. The liner notes are excellent. The set as a whole is indispensable.
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cinematic Treasure!, August 31, 2001
These films are true works of art. If you have any sympathy for the work of Andrei Tarkovsky, or that of Ingmar Bergman, then it is almost certain that you will appreciate Dreyer. Tarkovsky himself praised Dreyer, and his influence is directly discernable in Bergman's films.
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Ordet is, perhaps, the most shocking of the three. The film dwells upon the spiritual lives of its characters, and it addresses this spiritual plane in several ways - strikingly through madness, through sectarian conflict, and through the mysteries of birth and death. The utter seriousness of its approach (save for a humorous reference to Kierkegaard (believe it or not)) allows the viewer to enter unreservedly into the film's world, which in turn allows for a miraculous climax, that is unbearably moving, itself a miracle of the cinema. So many of the universal elements in human existence are at work here that each viewer will undoubtedly find resonances within his or her own life.
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Day of Wrath is a disturbing Freudian drama, cloaked in a world of tyrranical religion and witchcraft. Arthur Miller's 'The Crucible' was allegedly influenced by this film. The second wife of an aging cleric, rather precipitiously engages in an affair with her husband's son from his first marriage, all under the stony eye of her fearsome mother-in-law. Self-reproach and resentment abound, and the damning of witches stands as an allegory that is not limited simply to sexuality.
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The acting in both these films is particularly fine. Dreyer pioneers some cinematographic techniques too, such as the tracking of the camera while reverse panning, and some memorable horizon shots (was Kurosawa in the audience?).
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Gertrud, while recognisably Dreyer's work, is quite different. Here the nature of time and its role in film is central, and one can she how this film might have been a catalyst for some of Tarkovsky's thoughts. The acting is incredibly stylised, and the tableau as carefully arranged as still lifes. This film is so far removed from ordinary film conventions that it can be hard to relate to - in terms of the viewing experience perhaps there are some similarities to seeing an Antonioni film, but not too many: this film is unique.
*
Criterion have provided their usual superb transfers, and an interesting documentary. Really, the whole production of this package is faultless. A booklet provides a short extract from the book 'Dreyer in Double Reflection: Carl Dreyer's Writings on Film', edited by Donald Skoller, and I can also recommend this book in its entirety. Finally, Dreyer's Passion of Joan of Arc, also on Criterion, is as great as any of these three films.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Entering the great Danish artist's world, August 15, 2001
The author of "La passion de Jeanne D'Arc" has finally seen from heaven how his five best masterpieces are avaliable for every person in the world. And, of course, it had to be The Criterion Collection who made this possible.The three works of art ("Gertrud", "Ordet" and "Vredens dag") are presented in gorgeus Black and White preserving its original aspect ratio, with good extras and accompained by a magnificent additional disc presenting the documentary "Carl Th. Dreyer: Min Metier". These three Danish films are living beings of film history. They represent the highest level of "trascendental cinema" and create a new visual and conceptual world. The 'mise en scene', composition and character developing reach an unbelievable strength in most of the sequences in this Collection. I can't finish without suggesting you to buy this magnificent pack as well as the other two Dreyer's films released by Criterion on DVD: "La passion de Jeanne d'Arc" and "Vampyr". If you do this, the artistic level of your 'DVDtheque' will improve enormusly.
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