Before I begin, I must confess that I am not eternally in awe at the genius of the director, Dreyer. While he has an absolutely amazing reputation, several of his more famous films have left me a bit flat. So it was a very welcome thing when I watched this more conventional and entertaining film--after his vampire film and the other about Joan of Arc, I was really, really looking forward to something lighter in mood. This film was exactly what I had in mind. This is a pretty ordinary domestic comedy for Dreyer. I don't say ordinary in a bad sense, but that the film felt more approachable and designed for the common person in the audience instead of being an obsessively-made art film (which he was famous for making). Okay, now that I probably have insulted all the Dreyer fans out there, I'll get on the heart of my review.
This is the tale of an over-worked and completely unappreciated housewife. In so many ways, she tries so hard so be the perfect wife but the cad of a husband can do nothing but criticize and berate her as well as be harsh towards the kids. And, the wife being a "co-dependent" (a nice modern psychobabble word, huh?), she thinks all she needs to do is try even harder and she makes excuse after excuse for the jerk. This seems to be a problem without a solution until the husband's old nanny comes to the home and sees how frazzled the wife is and how the hubby is a selfish spoiled brat. "Super-nanny" comes to the rescue--getting the wife out of the house and to a sanitarium for a rest. And, with the nanny back in charge, the spoiled guy slowly starts to realize just how good he had it--as he no longer is allowed to bully and browbeat to get his way.
The film is mildly funny, but is meant more as social commentary. In some ways it's pretty effective, but at times it is also kind of heavy-handed. Also, the film says things like "all men are that way" and "women do three times the work of men" and so it seems like the pro-feminist message is just a little too much at times. Instead of presenting a balanced view and showing how both men and women work hard and deserve respect, that men are like big babies and women are the backbone of every family. While this is definitely true of the family in this film, the film is itself perpetuating a stereotype. This can easily be forgiven, as in the 1920s, women were so much more under-appreciated, so it isn't like it irritated me--it just tended to occasionally use hyperbole and overstate things to drive the point home--again and again and again--making the film a tad heavy-handed. My advice is to ignore the excesses and just enjoy good film-making and entertainment.
This is the tale of an over-worked and completely unappreciated housewife. In so many ways, she tries so hard so be the perfect wife but the cad of a husband can do nothing but criticize and berate her as well as be harsh towards the kids. And, the wife being a "co-dependent" (a nice modern psychobabble word, huh?), she thinks all she needs to do is try even harder and she makes excuse after excuse for the jerk. This seems to be a problem without a solution until the husband's old nanny comes to the home and sees how frazzled the wife is and how the hubby is a selfish spoiled brat. "Super-nanny" comes to the rescue--getting the wife out of the house and to a sanitarium for a rest. And, with the nanny back in charge, the spoiled guy slowly starts to realize just how good he had it--as he no longer is allowed to bully and browbeat to get his way.
The film is mildly funny, but is meant more as social commentary. In some ways it's pretty effective, but at times it is also kind of heavy-handed. Also, the film says things like "all men are that way" and "women do three times the work of men" and so it seems like the pro-feminist message is just a little too much at times. Instead of presenting a balanced view and showing how both men and women work hard and deserve respect, that men are like big babies and women are the backbone of every family. While this is definitely true of the family in this film, the film is itself perpetuating a stereotype. This can easily be forgiven, as in the 1920s, women were so much more under-appreciated, so it isn't like it irritated me--it just tended to occasionally use hyperbole and overstate things to drive the point home--again and again and again--making the film a tad heavy-handed. My advice is to ignore the excesses and just enjoy good film-making and entertainment.