9
Gertrud
CARL THEODOR DREYER, 1964
This melodrama requires command of the dramatic continuum, the use of laws for emotional identification, the virtuosity in both the secret musicality and interior rhythms: in Gertrud, Dreyer elevates the main character to metaphysical heights. A dialogue-based movie, in the last scene the dialogue stops and, when the main character closes the door and waves, the invisible clock that has been ticking during the whole movie –time is concealed– it is no longer heard but instead death is knocking on the door.
Video with scenes from the film and commentary by the film critic Richard Brody.