Ordet (1955)

Guionista:

Kaj Munk (play)

Release Date:

10 enero 1955 (Denmark)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Father Son Relationship | Insanity | Forbidden Love | Loss Of Wife | Widower

Awards:

Won Golden Globe. Another 5 wins

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Not only brilliant, but truly engaging

Cast

(in alphabetical order)

Hanne Agesen	...	Karen, a Servant (uncredited)
Kirsten Andreasen	...	(uncredited)
Sylvia Eckhausen	...	Kirstin Petersen (uncredited)
Birgitte Federspiel	...	Inger, Mikkel's Wife (uncredited)
Ejner Federspiel	...	Peter Petersen (uncredited)
Emil Hass Christensen	...	Mikkel Borgen (uncredited)
Cay Kristiansen	...	Anders Borgen (uncredited)
Preben Lerdorff Rye	...	Johannes Borgen (uncredited)
Henrik Malberg	...	Morten Borgen (uncredited)
Gerda Nielsen	...	Anne Petersen (uncredited)
Ann Elisabeth Rud	...	Maren Borgen, Mikkel's Daughter (uncredited)
Ove Rud	...	Pastor (uncredited)
Susanne Rud	...	Lilleinger Borgen, Mikkel's Daughter (uncredited)
Henry Skjær	...	The Doctor (uncredited)
Edith Trane	...	Mette Maren (uncredited)

También conocida como:

The Word
Ordet (Argentina) [es]
Palabra (Ordet), La (Spain) [es]

Duración:

126 min

País:

Denmark

Idioma:

Danish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sonido:

Mono

Clasificación:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Argentina:16

Company:

Palladium Film

Trivialidades:

The set for the final scene in Carl Th. Dreyer's 1943 film VREDENS DAG was recreated twelve years later for the final scene of his film of this film. As well, actress Birgitte Federspiel was cast as Inger in this version of ORDET because of her facial resemblance to actress Lisbeth Movin as Anne in VREDENS DAG, allowing Dreyer to create somewhat of a reversal of the final scene in this picture.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in From Dreyer to von Trier: An Interview with Cinematographer Henning Bendtsen (2005) (V)

Not only brilliant, but truly engaging

Others have reviewed this picture in a more scholarly and contextual manner than I can, so I will only endeavor to add the following:

I have a particular interest in the nature of faith, and undertook to view Ordet as something "good for me," but probably arduous. Wrong! I also grew up in an area heavily populated by Scandinavians, and knew immigrants who were contemporaries of the oldest actors in the picture.

Ordet, set in 1925, is a dead-on take of old-school Scandinavian culture, suffused with not only the most intense dramatic elements imaginable, but moments of comic relief as well. The action moves right along, without help of special effects or a distracting musical score.

This picture at least alludes to the seldom-asked question, "Why do people believe?" Is it merely for the rewards of faithfulness, or something more?

The final scene, utterly devoid of effects or music, has a dramatic power unexcelled in the ensuing 47 years of cinema to date. It is very long, but uses its length in service of the tension of the story. Nobody is yelling, fighting or firing weapons, despite the fact they are enduring the nadir of emotional torment.

In an oblique way, it reminded me of the part of Jim Jarmusch's "Down By Law" where Tom Waits and Co. are sitting in the clink in real time, and time passes glacially in one very long scene, illustrating how boring it is to be incarcerated. Here real time is used to nearly the reverse effect, illustrating the unrelenting nature of grief.

One negative review alludes to the final shot and the look in a character's eyes. I would defend that as an insight that no blessing is unmixed.

As others have noted, you don't have to swallow Christianity whole or even in part to enjoy this film and be given much to ponder. See it.