Carl Theodor Dreyer

Carl Theodor Dreyer's intimate domestic drama about a husband who takes his hardworking wife for granted, mistreats her, and is reformed by the quiet intervention of his old nanny. After Ida is driven to leave, the nanny moves in, takes over the household, and forces Viktor to confront how much his wife did and how little he appreciated it. Dreyer, better known for his austere spiritual films like The Passion of Joan of Arc, here works in a warm, observational register, using close-ups and carefully composed interiors to build a portrait of a marriage. The film was a commercial success in Denmark and helped establish Dreyer's reputation. Published in 1925, it is in the public domain in the United States.

Drama · Silent

Carl Theodor Dreyer's account of Joan of Arc's trial and execution is built almost entirely from close-ups. Renée Falconetti, in her only major film role, gives one of the most studied performances in cinema history using little more than her face. Dreyer shot the film on a specially constructed set and rewrote the dialogue from the actual trial transcripts, then cut the film against the wishes of the producers, who had their own version assembled. The original negative was lost in a fire, and the cut most people know today was reconstructed decades later from a print found in a Norwegian mental institution. It is a silent film that feels nothing like other silent films: austere, relentless, and almost unbearably intimate. The 1928 film entered the United States public domain on January 1, 2024.

Drama · Historical · Silent