Ordet

Great film from Danish director Carl Dreyer, about a family in which the eldest son's wife, Inger, is about to give birth to their third child. The second son, Johannes, has gone mad from studying Kierkegaard too intensely and now believes himself to be the living Christ. The third son, Anders, is in love with a tailor's daughter, but has been forbidden to marry her on the grounds that he doesn't come from a religious family. Presiding over all this is the patriarch, Morten Borgen, whose rendering by actor Henrik Malberg is surely one of the greatest portrayals of old age on film. Though slow moving, the film offers several surprises that raise the story to the level of parable. Well acted throughout and beautifully photographed in a way that makes light itself a character in the unfolding drama. Most highly recommended.