★ 7 / 10
Reading Roger Ebert's review after watching this movie
Raphael G
Reading Roger Ebert's review after watching this movie for the first time, I almost felt bad for not liking it more. But then again, earlier today I had seen…
Reading Roger Ebert's review after watching this movie for the first time, I almost felt bad for not liking it more. But then again, earlier today I had seen "Joan of Arc", also by Carl Th. Dreyer, which had completely blown me away. And perhaps that was the kind of film I was in the mood for, and somehow expect. Even if I was aware that "Ordet" was made almost 30 years later. Expectations will do that to you. And concentration. I was "the unprepared audience" as Roger Ebert put it. But I will be willing to revisit it in the future.
Read full review
★ 10 / 10
If you like your movies full of action
Matthew B
If you like your movies full of action scenes or intense melodrama, then Ordet is not for you. Even the camera moves slowly, and the film is shot in long…
If you like your movies full of action scenes or intense melodrama, then Ordet is not for you. Even the camera moves slowly, and the film is shot in long takes, many of them seven minutes long. There are only 114 individual shots in the film, and yet only three camera close-ups.
The subject matter of the film is not to everyone's tastes either. The characters are preoccupied with religious matters, and their relationship with God is discussed at length in every scene. The film's title translates as The Word.
It is worth sticking with Ordet if you can, because the movie is very absorbing. The director Carl Dreyer made it with loving care. The action and camera work was blocked in minute detail. Dreyer paid attention to getting the clothing and dialect right. He shot the film in bright intense light, using twenty lights where the average director would use two. As a result, every scene is bathed in a transcendental glow.
Perhaps Ordet seems long and verbal because of its limited and minimalist sets. There is little furniture or décor. Most of the action takes place indoors, around a farmhouse and a pastoral meeting place. We see brief glimpses of the home from the outside. Mostly we see a garden and washing line at most. We do not even see the sow that the characters often mention.
This deliberately static style ensures that the viewer has few encumbrances to concentrating on what the characters say to one another. The action is limited. There are two families from opposing religions who have children that wish to marry one another. A pregnant woman has a miscarriage, and her life hangs in the balance. A man has lost his mind and believes that he is Jesus. The sombre tone grows greyer and sadder until the story ends on a final miracle.
In the end, for all the talk about faith, prayer and miracle, it turns out that happiness lies in something more worldly. When Mikkel is told that Inger's soul will be with God, he pleads, "But her body. I loved her body too." Maren too cannot be fobbed off with mere spiritual comforts. Johannes tells her: "Little girl, you don't know what it is to have a mother in heaven". "Nonsense!" replies Maren; "If we get hurt, we'll have no mother to care for us."
There is also an important moment late in the film. I will not reveal what happens, but if you have seen the film, then you will remember. In the scene, Inger stirs into wakefulness, and kisses her husband in a sensual manner as if she is famished. For all the attempts to find solace in heavenly matters, it seems that earthly affections matter more.
Perhaps as a person with a secular turn of mind, I feel more drawn to this interpretation. However I cannot deny the powerful spiritual intensity of the ending. Even without any religious belief of my own, I consider the closing moments of Ordet to be one of the most beautiful and moving scenes in the history of cinema.
I wrote a longer appreciation of Ordet on my blog page if you would like to read more: https://themoviescreenscene.wordpress.com/2019/05/03/ordet-1955/
Read full review
★ 8 / 10
Unrelentingly grim and strangely hypnotic, Carl Theodor Dreyer's
dave s
Unrelentingly grim and strangely hypnotic, Carl Theodor Dreyer's Ordet is a story about love, faith, and family. Set primarily in a wind-beaten farmhouse in…
Unrelentingly grim and strangely hypnotic, Carl Theodor Dreyer's Ordet is a story about love, faith, and family. Set primarily in a wind-beaten farmhouse in Denmark, the patriarch of the family, the father of three boys, is a dour widower who puts his belief in God before all else. Of his three offspring, one follows his father's belief system, one is an avowed atheist, and one believes he is the reincarnation of Jesus. Beyond its none too subtle religious themes, the film is notable for its remarkably austere style, filled with long takes where, in lieu of cuts, the camera simply pans or tracks slowly from character to character, all leading to a memorable final scene that will either leave the viewer inspired or confounded in disbelief.
Read full review
100%
TOMATOMETER
· 29 reviews
91%
AUDIENCE
· 2.5K ratings
8.2/10
19.3K
•••
gran cine @rsalvop