Rating: 5/5
An older woman in a village stands accused of witchcraft. To the priest who tortures her for her confession, she begs him to spare her as he had the mother of his wife — a much younger woman than he — who was also accused of witchcraft. He denies her pleas, and the men cast her into the fire
The priest’s son from a prior marriage comes to live with them. The son and the priest’s wife fall in love with each other, the wife wishing her older husband would die so that they could be together
The visual storytelling is so sharp — Dreyer’s expertise as a silent film director translates well, and the lines of dialogue are meaningful accents and surface-level details. Some scenes look like classical paintings the way they are composed
Dreyer is the king of the closeup if Joan of Arc didn’t tell you. Empathy and beauty, eyes aglow, pain rendered real and terrible
Much of it feels like stage work, and I know some people think that is a weakness or vestigial part of the transition from stage to screen, but there’s a lot of power in composing a set this way
This is a perfect movie. Every moment is so carefully and attentively rendered
Stray Thoughts
- I love the illuminated text opening scroll
- The boy’s choir functions like the Greek chorus
- The older woman accused of being a witch is so fucking good — I love every second of her performance
- The confession torture scene is such a contrast to the usual high-intensity scenes in other films. You see the resignation and guilt the men feel as they put this woman who could be their mother — someone they know in the community — through this
- The scene of the older woman being thrown into the fire looks so real!