Day of Wrath | |
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![]() Danish theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Carl Theodor Dreyer |
Written by |
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Based on | Anne Pedersdotter by Hans Wiers-Jenssen |
Produced by | Carl Theodor Dreyer |
Starring |
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Cinematography | Karl Andersson |
Edited by | Anne Marie Petersen Edith Schlüssel |
Music by | Poul Schierbeck |
Distributed by |
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Release dates |
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Running time | 100 minutes [1] |
Country | Denmark |
Language | Danish |
Day of Wrath (Danish : Vredens dag) is a 1943 Danish drama film directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer and starring Lisbeth Movin, Thorkild Roose and Preben Lerdorff Rye. It is an adaptation of the 1909 play Anne Pedersdotter by Hans Wiers-Jenssen, based on a 16th century Norwegian case. The film tells the story of a young woman who is forced into a marriage with an elderly pastor after her late mother was accused of witchcraft. She falls in love with the pastor's son and also comes under suspicion of witchcraft.
The film was produced during the Nazi Occupation of Denmark, and Dreyer left the country for Sweden after its release. It has received very positive reviews, despite initial criticisms for slow pacing.
In a Danish village in 1623, an old woman known as Herlof's Marte is accused of witchcraft. Anne, a young woman, is married to the aged local pastor, Absalon Pedersson, who is involved with the trials of witches, and they live in a house shared with his strict, domineering mother Meret. Meret does not approve of Anne, who is much younger than her husband, being about the same age as the son from his first marriage. Anne gives Herlof's Marte refuge, but Marte is soon discovered in the house, though she is presumed to have hidden herself there without assistance. Herlof's Marte knows that Anne's mother, already dead at the time of the events depicted, had been accused of witchcraft as well, and had been spared thanks to Absalon's intervention, who aimed at marrying young Anne. Anne is thus informed by Herlof's Marte of her mother's power over people's life and death and becomes intrigued in the matter.
Absalon's son from his first marriage, Martin, returns home from abroad and he and Anne are immediately attracted to each other. She does not love her husband and thinks he does not love her. Under torture, Herlof's Marte confesses to witchcraft, defined among other evidence as wishing for the death of other people. She threatens to expose Anne if Absalon does not rescue her from a guilty verdict, begging him to save her as he saved Anne's mother. Marte, after pleading with Absalon a second time, does not betray his secret and is executed by burning with the villagers looking on. Absalon feels his guilt over having saved Anne's mother, but leaving Marte to burn. Anne and Martin, clandestinely growing closer, are seen as having changed in recent days, fueling Meret's suspicion of Anne's character. Anne is heard laughing in Martin's company by her husband, something which has not occurred in their time together. Absalon regrets that he married Anne without regarding her feelings and true intentions, and tells her so, apologizing for stealing her youth and happiness.
A violent storm erupts while Absalon is away visiting a dying young parishioner, Laurentius. He had been cursed by Herlof's Marte during her interrogation and she foretold an imminent death. Meanwhile, Anne and Martin are discussing the future, and she is forced to admit wishing her husband dead, but only as an "if" rather than it actually happening. At that moment Absalon, on his way home, feels "like the touching of Death itself." On Absalon's return, Anne confesses her love for Martin to her husband and tells him she wishes him dead. He collapses and dies, calling Martin's name. Anne screams. The following morning Martin is overcome by his own doubts. Anne declares that she had nothing to do with his father's death, which she sees as providential help from above to release her from her present misery and unhappy marriage. At Absalon's funeral, Anne is denounced by Meret, her mother-in-law, as a witch. Anne initially denies the charge, but when Martin sides with his grandmother she is faced with the loss of his love and trust, and she confesses on her husband's open coffin that she murdered him and enchanted his son with the Devil's help. Her fate appears sealed. [2]
Day of Wrath was Dreyer's first film since Vampyr (1932). He had spent the previous eleven years working as a journalist and unsuccessfully attempting to launch such film projects as an adaptation of Madame Bovary , a documentary on Africa and a film about Mary Stuart. [3]
Dreyer had first seen Wiers-Jenssen's play Anne Pedersdotter in 1925 and had wanted to adapt it to the screen for several years. [4] It differs slightly from the original play, such as the scene where Anne and Martin first meet and kiss. In Wiers-Jenssen's play they are hesitant and shy, while in Dreyer's film they are bluntly sexual. [5]
Dreyer's producers had wanted him to cast Eyvind Johan-Svendsen in the role of Absalon, but Dreyer thought the actor was too much of "a Renaissance man" and preferred to cast an actor that could project the austerity that he wanted. [6] Lisbeth Movin was cast after being asked to meet with Dreyer. She was not allowed to wear any make-up, with Dreyer preferring the realistic look. [7]
In one scene, Anna Svierkier's character is burnt at the stake. To depict it, Svierkier was tied to a wooden ladder, and Dreyer left her there while the rest of the cast and crew went for lunch, over the objections of Preben Lerdorff Rye and Thorkild Roose. When they returned, Svierkier was perspiring profusely, which is visible in the film. [8]
Although both this film and most of Dreyer's other films have been criticized as being too slow, Dreyer explained that neither his pacing nor his editing were slow, but that the movements of the characters on the screen were slow in order to build tension. [9]
The film premiered at the World Cinema in Copenhagen on 13 November 1943. [10] Dreyer always denied the film as being analogous to persecution of Jews. However, on the advice of many of his friends he left Denmark on the pretext of selling Day of Wrath in foreign markets and spent the rest of the war in Sweden shortly after the film's release. [11] [12]
The film premiered in the United States in April 1948. [13] In Region 1, The Criterion Collection released the film on DVD in 2001, in a boxset with Dreyer's Ordet (1955) and Gertrud (1964). [14]
On its Copenhagen release, it received poor reviews and was unsuccessful financially, with many Danes complaining about the film's slow pace. [15] It later gained a better critical reputation after World War II. Many Danes saw a parallel between the witch burning and the persecution of Jews during the Nazi occupation, which had begun on 29 August. [10] While Dreyer denied the film was about the Nazis, during the war it had resonated with the Danish resistance movement. [16]
The film also received negative criticism in the United States in 1948. Variety wrote that "the picture is tedious to the extreme," and that its "chief trouble lies in the gratingly plodding pace. And the heavy story, unlightened by the slightest sign of comedy relief." [17] Bosley Crowther of The New York Times called the film "slow and monotonous" despite having "intellectual force." [13]
However, from some reviewers, the film received immediate praise. The New Yorker called the film "one of the best ever made." [18] A. Bertrand Channon called the film a "masterpiece" that will be "discussed long after Greer Garson, Bette Davis, and Ida Lupino have joined the company of Ruth Chatterton, Norma Talmadge, and Norma Shearer." [19] Life magazine called it "one of the most remarkable movies of recent years" and noted that a campaign by a group of critics led to the film being shown again four months later in August 1948. [20]
Years after its release, film critic Robin Wood called it "Dreyer's richest work...because it expresses most fully the ambiguities inherent in his vision of the world." [21] Jean Semolue said that "the interest in Dreyer's films resides not in the depiction of events, nor the predetermined characters, but in the depiction of the changes wrought on characters by events. [11]
Critic Jonathan Rosenbaum wrote that "Day of Wrath may be the greatest film ever made about living under totalitarian rule" [22] and believed it was an influence on the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller. [16] It is often cited in Denmark as the greatest Danish film. [23] Currently, the film has a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 25 reviews, with a weighted average of 8.68/10. The site's consensus reads: "Beautifully filmed and rich with period detail, Day of Wrath peers into the past to pose timelessly thought-provoking questions about intolerance and societal mores". [24]
The Passion of Joan of Arc is a 1928 French silent historical film based on the actual record of the trial of Joan of Arc. The film was directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer and stars Renée Jeanne Falconetti as Joan. It is widely regarded as a landmark of cinema, especially for its production, Dreyer's direction and Falconetti's performance, which is often listed as one of the finest in cinema history. The film summarizes the time that Joan of Arc was a captive of England, depicting her trial and execution.
Carl Theodor Dreyer, commonly known as Carl Th. Dreyer, was a Danish film director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his movies are noted for emotional austerity and slow, stately pacing, frequent themes of social intolerance, the inseparability of fate and death, and the power of evil in earthly life.
Babette's Feast is a 1987 Danish drama film directed by Gabriel Axel. The screenplay, written by Axel, was based on the 1958 story of the same name by Isak Dinesen. It was produced by Just Betzer, Bo Christensen and Benni Korzen, with funding from the Danish Film Institute. It stars Stéphane Audran, Birgitte Federspiel, and Bodil Kjer.
Ordet, is a 1955 Danish drama film, directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer. It is based on a play by Kaj Munk, a Danish Lutheran priest, first performed in 1932. The film won the Golden Lion at the 16th Venice International Film Festival, and was the only film by Dreyer to be both a critical and financial success.
Lisbeth Movin was a Danish actress of stage and film best known for her role as Anne, the pastor's wife accused of witchcraft in the film Day of Wrath (1943) directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer. She also appeared as the widow in the screen adaptation of Babette's Feast (1987), directed by Gabriel Axel. She was the mother of actress Lone Lau.
Nina Pens Rode was a Danish stage and film actress. She is best known for her performance in the title role in Carl Theodor Dreyer's 1964 film Gertrud.
Anne Pedersdotter was an alleged Norwegian witch. Her case was one of the most documented of the many witchcraft trials in Norway in the 16th and 17th centuries. Together with Lisbeth Nypan, she was perhaps the most famous victim of the accusation in Norway.
The Red Meadows is a 1945 Danish war drama directed by Bodil Ipsen and Lau Lauritzen Jr. based on resistance fighter Ole Valdemar Juul's 1945 novel of the same name. The film, starring Poul Reichhardt and Lisbeth Movin, is a suspense tale revolving around the memories of a Danish saboteur as he awaits his execution in a German war-time prison. Filmed in Denmark only months after the end of the German occupation during World War II, Red Meadows was a tribute to the Danish resistance fighters. The film received the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and is considered a stylistic masterwork.
Hr. Petit is a 1948 Danish crime film directed by Alice O'Fredericks.
Preben Lerdorff Rye was a Danish film actor. He appeared in 92 films between 1941 and 1989. He was born and died in Denmark.
Hans Wiers-Jenssen was a Norwegian novelist, playwright, stage producer and theatre historian. Wiers-Jenssen was employed at the theatres Christiania Theatre, Nationaltheatret and Den Nationale Scene.
Anne Pedersdotter is a play written in 1908 by Norwegian playwright Hans Wiers-Jenssen. The play is based on an incident from 1590, when Anne Pedersdotter, the widow of priest Absalon Pederssøn Beyer, was accused of witchcraft and burned alive in the city of Bergen.
Edvard Fliflet Bræin was a Norwegian composer and conductor. He is best remembered for the composition Ut mot havet and the opera Anne Pedersdotter.
La fiamma is an opera in three acts by Ottorino Respighi to a libretto by Claudio Guastalla based on Hans Wiers-Jenssen's 1908 play Anne Pedersdotter, The Witch. The plot is loosely based on the story of Anne Pedersdotter, a Norwegian woman who was accused of witchcraft and burnt at the stake in 1590. However, Respighi and Guastalla changed the setting of the opera to 7th century Ravenna. The melodramatic tale involves the illicit love of Silvana, the daughter of a witch, for her stepson Donello. When her husband Basilio dies of a heart attack, Silvana is accused of causing his death by witchcraft and is condemned to death. La fiamma premiered to considerable success on 23 January 1934 at the Teatro Reale dell'Opera in Rome in a performance conducted by Respighi himself. The production was directed by Alessandro Sanine with sets designed by Nicola Benois.
Medea is a 1988 Danish tragedy television film directed by Lars von Trier. It is based on Carl Theodor Dreyer's adaptation of Euripides' play Medea. The setting is changed from the Mediterranean to a danish, vaguely iron age setting.
Ludovica Magdalena Marie Levy was a Danish actress, theatre director and theatre critic. She toured with theatres in Denmark and Norway, and worked as instructor for Den Nationale Scene in Bergen. She chaired the theatre Sekondteatret in Kristiania from 1899 to 1901, together with her husband Dore Lavik. She founded the touring theatre Nationalturneen in 1907, and toured in Norway with this theatre until 1912.
Thorkild Roose was a Danish actor and theatre director.
Liv Uchermann Selmer was a Norwegian actress.
Siri Rom was a Norwegian actress. She was engaged for many years at the Norwegian Theater.
Julie Lampe was a Norwegian actress.