Ordet (1955) on Netflix
Widowed Danish farmer Morten Borgen has three sons. Mikkel has lost his faith, Johannes believes he is Jesus, and Anders loves Anne Petersen, the tailor's daughter.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb8.2/1019,177 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Trailer
Plot summary
In the autumn of 1925, Morten Borgen farms in rural Denmark and is a leading man of his parish. He has three sons. The eldest, Mikkel, holds no faith and is married to Inger, who is expecting their third child. The middle son, Johannes, studied theology and now believes he is Jesus Christ; he wanders the farm and reproaches the household and the village's new pastor for their lack of belief. The youngest, Anders, loves Anne Petersen, whose father, Peter, heads a local Inner Mission sect. Anders tells Mikkel and Inger, and they agree to press his case. Inger argues for the match; Morten refuses in anger. When he hears that Peter has turned Anders away, Morten reverses himself, and father and son drive to Peter to arrange the betrothal.
Cast
- Gerda Nielsenas Anne Petersen (uncredited)
- Sylvia Eckhausenas Kirstin Petersen (uncredited)
- Ann Elisabeth Grothas Maren Borgen (uncredited)
- Susanne Rudas Lilleinger Borgen (uncredited)
- Henry Skjæras The Doctor (uncredited)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Ordet (1955)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Birgitte Federspiel, who played Inger, was really pregnant during the shoot and went into labor near the end. She let Carl Theodor Dreyer record her labor pains and use the recording as a sound effect in the finished film.
- Twice in the film, as Morten and Anders drive to and from meeting Peter the Tailor, they pass the rough cross put up where the body of playwright Kaj Munk was found; Munk was assassinated in 1944 under the Nazi occupation of Denmark for preaching against collaboration.
SPOILER
Dreyer shot two versions of the resurrection scene: one from Kaj Munk's play in which Inger only appears to be dead, and one where the miracle is genuine. He used the genuine-miracle version.- Where most filmmakers of the time used one or two lights for a scene, Dreyer and cinematographer Henning Bendtsen often used up to 20, with electricians switching lights on and off unnoticed during the shot.
- Kaj Munk wrote the role of Morten Borgen specially for the elderly actor Henrik Malberg in 1925, and Malberg had trouble remembering his dialogue for Dreyer's long takes.
- Dreyer had the crew fill the country kitchen set with everything he thought right, then removed objects until only ten or fifteen were left, saying this created the right psychological illusion.
- Ordet has 114 individual shots in total, half of them in the first and last scenes, and many of the shots lasted up to seven minutes.
- Ordet won the Golden Lion at the 16th Venice International Film Festival, and was the only film by Carl Theodor Dreyer to be both a critical and a financial success.
