Gertrud
Directed by Carl Th. Dreyer
Written by Carl. Th. Dreyer from a play by Hjalmar Sodenberg
1964/Denmark
Palladium Film
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
[box] Gabriel Lidman: You taught me love is everything. We shouldn’t be alone. I have been alone much too much. We shouldn’t be just one of many. We need to be one of two.[/box]
Unbelievable how a story of love, passion, and heartbreak could be so emotionless.
In Gertrud’s world view, romantic love should be a person’s everything. Naturally, she is disappointed with her lawyer husband’s love. He is consumed with work and ambitious for a role in politics. Prior to her marriage, she left her poet lover due to his dedication to work.
Now Gertrud is in love with a composer. He’s going to break her heart as neither her husband nor her poet ever could.
I am a big fan of Dreyer’s work but this film leaves me completely cold. The characters don’t even look at each other and keep a dead pan expression at all times. It doesn’t help that I find Gertrud to be unlikeable in the extreme. She deserves to be miserable.
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