Ordet (1955)

 Carl Theodor Dreyer's "Ordet"

In 1955, Carl Theodor Dryer directed his most celebrated film outside of "The Passion of Joan of Arc." Based on a play by Kaj Munk, "Ordet" is a film that seems to discuss its own spirituality. Often cited as being an incredibly strange film, "Ordet" has an ambiance that can entice you in, and make you question or confirm your own faith. 

The film centers around the Borgen family in 1925 Denmark. The patriarch of the family, Morten, is a widower with three grown sons. The youngest son, Anders, is attempting to court and marry the daughter of a fundamentalist Christian. The eldest, Mikkel, who is agnostic, is married to Inger and has two small daughters with a third child on the way. The middle son, Johannes, believes himself to be Jesus Christ after heavily studying Kierkegaard. He wanders the house and the dunes outside professing that we are living in the age of non-believers. The family chooses to ignore Johannes, as they believe him to be crazy. One day, Anders goes to ask the hand of Anne from her father. Her father refuses, stating that they share differing faiths. Upset at this notion, Morten, who uses Christianity to rejoice in life, goes to have a chat about their religious differences. After getting into a confrontation, Morten and Anders leave. When they return home, they discover that Inger has gone into labor and is dying. The doctor arrives and cuts the baby out and fails to save the life of Inger. At her funeral, Johannes professes that if only the non-believers would simply believe, Inger would come back to life. He then demands Inger to awaken, and she does. 

The two-hour runtime of the film is devoted to philosophical and religious questions. There is little action or little plot. Rather, each scene involves characters talking in rooms. Each character seems to have their own conception of spirituality. Each character also seems to differ in their perspective from the other characters. This is where the crux of the film lies - in the differing and assorted viewpoints on life and death. Morten believes that life should be celebrated and that God makes everything happen for a reason. Mikkel doesn't believe in any sort of God at all and thinks that life is a series of unfortunate consequences. Johannes believes himself to be Jesus, and that any miracle is attainable with absolute faith. Anne's father, the fundamentalist, believes that life is gloom and doom and that one should spend their life atoning for their sins and preparing for the worst. The film is full of conversations reflecting on these varied perspectives.

Since each scene involves characters talking in rooms, there are only 114 shots in the entire film - half of them occur in the first and last scenes of the film. Dreyer utilized long takes for this conversation and allowed each scene to breathe. Many shots in the film last up to seven minutes in length. Dreyer's long takes and slow-moving camera allow the viewer to become fully immersed in the dialogue. When watching the film, you begin to inhabit the space of the characters, feeling like part of the family. Dreyer seems to be very apt at allowing viewers to take up space with the characters and to feel as part of them. Dreyer is also able to use light and shadow to magnificent effect. Because of this, as well as his attention to detail, the framing of each scene feels like a painting. 

The film enraptured so many viewers that many consider this Dreyer's greatest work. The film won the Golden Lion at the 16th Venice International Film Festival and was both a critical and commercial success for Dreyer - something he was not used to.