The Abyss + The ABC of Love

Asta Nielsen plays a woman in an erotic dilemma in her screen debut The Abyss, the tale of a young woman who leaves her fiancée for a circus star. In comic and tragic mode – sowing the seeds for her provocative persona – Nielsen gives an arresting performance that culminates in a sensual rope dance displaying what Béla Balázs called her ‘spiritualised eroticism [which] is demonically dangerous, since it works at a distance through all of her clothes’.

Digitally restored in 2004 by Danske Filminstitut.

Romantic comedy The ABC of Love is a comic showcase for Nielsen’s skills in male impersonation and genderplay. Here, thirtysomething Nielsen plays a teenage girl who teaches her young suitor how to be the man of her dreams, by dressing up in trousers herself.

Restoration of reconstructed version from 2011 by Danske Filminstitut.

The screening on Thursday 3 February will be introduced by season curator Pamela Hutchinson.