Gertrud (1964)

Director:

Carl Theodor Dreyer

Writers:

Hjalmar Söderberg (play) and
Carl Theodor Dreyer

Release Date:

2 June 1966 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

In the elegant world of artists and musicians, Gertrud ends her marriage to Gustav and takes a lover, the composer Erland Jansson

Plot Keywords:

Lover | Love | Flashback | Actor Plays Character With Same Name | Female Singer

Awards:

3 wins

Cast

Nina Pens Rode	...	Gertrud Kanning
Bendt Rothe	...	Gustav Kanning
Ebbe Rode	...	Gabriel Lidman
Baard Owe	...	Erland Jansson
Axel Strøbye	...	Axel Nygen
Karl Gustav Ahlefeldt
Vera Gebuhr	...	The Kannings' Maid
Lars Knutzon	...	Student orator
Anna Malberg	...	Kanning's mother
Edouard Mielche	...	The Rector Magnificus (as Edouard Mielché)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Valsø Holm	...	(uncredited)
Carl Johan Hviid	...	(uncredited)
William Knoblauch	...	(uncredited)
Gurli Plesner	...	(singing voice) (uncredited)
Ole Sarvig	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Carl Theodor Dreyer

Writing credits
Hjalmar Söderberg		(play "Gertrud")
Carl Theodor Dreyer		(as Carl Th. Dreyer)

Produced by
Jørgen Nielsen	....	producer

Original Music by
Jørgen Jersild

Cinematography by
Henning Bendtsen
Arne Abrahamsen		(uncredited)

Film Editing by
Edith Schlüssel

Art Direction by
Kai Rasch

Costume Design by
Berit Nykjær
M.G. Rasmussen		(costumes: men)

Makeup Department
Bodil Overbye	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Solveig Ersgaard	....	assistant director
Jens Ravn	....	assistant director

Art Department
Willy Berg Hansen	....	property master

Sound Department
Knud Kristensen	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Ove Hansen	....	lighting technician

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Fabielle	....	costumer: "Gertrud"

Music Department
Peter Willemoes	....	conductor

Other crew
Winnie	....	hat maker: "Gertrud"'s hats

Production Companies

• Palladium Film

Distributors

• Notro Films (2005) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Film Corp. (2001) (DVD)
• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (2009) (Germany) (DVD)
• Magnus Opus (2005) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Pathé Contemporary Films (1966) (USA) (subtitled)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

119 min | Germany:112 min (TV version) | Argentina:115 min

Country:

Denmark

Language:

Danish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | West Germany:16 | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | Argentina:13

Company:

Palladium Film

Trivia:

Despite running 2 hours, there are less than 90 shots in the entire film and only one exterior scene. This may account for the outright hostility that greeted the film from the critical fraternity when it was first released.

Quotes:

Gertrud Kanning:The gardener has been told that only grass shall grow on my grave and in springtime I shall have anemones. You'll come by one day, pick an anemone and think of me. Take it as a word of love that was thought, but never spoken.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Carl Th. Dreyer: My Métier (1995)

Soundtrack:

Vesti la giubba

One of the most cinematic films ever made.

You might be dismayed the first time you view Gertrud. Is this a masterpiece you might ask yourself? Nothing seems to happen. People sit and talk. Sometimes they get up and move about and then go and sit down again. When they do talk, it is not always facing one another. Gertrud herself often appears to be in a trance, staring towards another world, a beyond of perfection where no mortal man can exist or match up to her dreams. By the end of the film she seems to have become as bloodless and lifeless as a statue. Whiteness has overcome her and it is as lethal as the powder in the mill of Dreyer's Vampyr.

This is a film that must be watched several times in order for all its qualities to be revealed. The characters movements are exactly choreographed. The decor is stripped down to its essentials. There is nothing in the frame that does not comment. It might appear on the surface to be a naturalistic film, but it is, in fact, as staged and controlled as any Fellini. Gertrud is about the martyrdom of a woman who seeks perfection in a flawed world. Its surface, is as still, and tranquil, as a lake in a park, but underneath, everything is turmoil and volcanic emotion