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 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/
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
09/05/23
Full Review
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 "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.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
08/10/23
Full Review
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 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.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
03/30/23
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Audience Member
Very slow paced and almost meditative but that allows you to take in the simple small cast and enter their household atmosphere. The final scene is epic stuff but it's not enjoyable enough to recommend beyond its historical cinematic significance.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/28/23
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Audience Member
I actually really liked this film. I really liked the pace - very slow, with big long slow dramatic scenes and lots of dialogue and long uninterrupted conversations, however, I do wonder too if that was a mood thing, I could imagine it annoying me in the wrong mood. I am also on a bit on an 'anit-quick/fast' kick in life - a deliberate attitude change - I basically think most things are better slow - food, walks, sex - so that might have had an impact on my response too. I can imagine this film feeling a bit preachy, especially to an atheist! However, where religion is concerned I saw it more as a commentary rather than a message, the main message I took from the film was that of 'life', confirmed by the end where Inger arises and repeats the word "life" over and over. From the religious commentary point of view it raised a few issues - the different types of Christianity (in the two old men), the contrast of science (in the Doctor), the man who is good and yet does not believe and obviously the power and importance of faith was an enormous subject. The film also interestingly pointed out that if Jesus was actually around today the so called Christians would try to commit him to a home, I've often thought a similar thing about Buddha - if Buddha was here today he would probably be abused, assaulted and diminished by so-called Buddhists.
The first few minutes I was not really engaged but very quickly settled into the film and was quite absorbed until the end. I loved the sets, there was only about three or four different ones and they were very plain and uncomplicated leaving most of the focus on the acting. The acting was at times very over dramatic which at first put me off but then I realised it was intentional, it was acting as an art form and I soon found the acting to be very intimate - often feeling like I was on set or in the room with the actors. Many of these points led Ordet to have the feeling of a play and I did feel it would have done much better as a play but I just looked it up and it is based on a play so that explains that. It is obvious very little adaptation had been done for screen and in fact the whole thing seemed little more than filming actors on a stage performing a play, which makes it difficult to score as should it be scored as a film or as a play or a piece of art in general?
Another Nordic director of the time Bergman's film have more complexity and the layers aremore subtle and developed, and have a higher philosophical edge but I do think Ordet has some things over those films, it has more intensity and although it does not have so much higher philosophical questioning it does have insightful social/religious observations. I also liked the slow pace and steadiness of Ordet over the 'excitement' of some of Bergman's. I also value the simplicity of Ordet - its form and it's sets. Despite all this reasoned and rational analysis Ordet did, for some reason, have an incredibly powerful effect on me and had I scored it immediately after watching I would probably turned it all the way up to 11 so I'm glad I didn't because that wouldn't have been fair on the other films. Although Ordet makes a good play, possibly even good art, one must remember this is a film review, not an art review, and the score must therefore be given in this context. I also except this score is higher than perhaps it should be purely for the personal and subjective impact the film had on me rather than critical analysis, which I think is OK as long as I make it clear that is the case. 8/10.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/18/23
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Audience Member
Complete patriarchal-devout mournful shit!
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
01/31/23
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