Ordet

The Word

Dreyer’s meticulous, measured and deeply moving play about a rural family riven by various tensions.

  • Director

    Carl Dreyer

  • With

    Henrik Malberg, Emil Hass Christensen, Birgitte Federspiel, Preben Lerdorff Rye

  • Denmark 1955. 125min

  • Digital

  • Certificate

    12A

  • English subtitles

Kaj Munk’s 1932 play had already been filmed in 1943 by Gustav Molander, but Dreyer’s particular sensibility and pared-back style was especially appropriate to the tale of a rural family riven by religious differences and romantic/sexual desires; one son believing himself to be Christ reincarnated doesn’t help maters either. The lustrous camerawork measured pace and mounting intensity lead to an extraordinary closing scene.

Also available on BFI Player