Gertrud (1964)

Carl Theodor Dreyer’s final masterpiece centres on a woman who rejects the compromise of her marriage and retreats into a serene isolation.

Adapted from a 1906 play by Hjalmar Söderberg, Gertrud is the story of a woman’s search for a romantic ideal of total and perfect love. A once famous singer now in her early 40s and retired in Stockholm, Gertrud makes the decision to leave Gustav, her lawyer husband for her lover, Erland, a young composer. Discovering the next day that Erland has betrayed her, and that he cannot make a total commitment to her, Gertrud rejects both husband and lover, choosing a life of solitude and study over the compromise of love that is merely half-measure.

‘Gertrud is a film I made with my heart’, said Carl Theodor Dreyer and its rigorously pared-down structure and stylised slowness, intricate camera movements and lighting effects show superbly how the art of his films were his truly great passion.

1964 Denmark
Directed by
Carl Th. Dreyer
Featuring
Nina Pens Rode, Bendt Rothe, Ebbe Rode
Running time
116 minutes

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound

Who voted for Gertrud

Critics

Manuel Asín
Spain
Michael Campi
Australia
Andrew Chan
USA
Jordan Cronk
USA
Tag Gallagher
USA
Fernando Ganzo
France/Spain
Evgeny Gusyatinskiy
Netherlands
KOMATSU Hiroshi
Japan
Peter Hourigan
Australia
Alberto Lechuga
Spain
Anke Leweke
Germany
Gonzalo de Lucas
Spain
Manuel Peláez
Spain
James Quandt
Canada
Peter Christian Rude
Denmark
Lucía Salas
Argentina/Spain
Michael Sicinski
USA
Chung Sung-Ill
South Korea
Yoo Unseong
South Korea
Carlos Valladares
USA
Juan José Vidal
Argentina

Directors

Fyzal Boulifa
UK
Daniel Graham
UK
Alena Lodkina
Australia
Rastko Novakovic
UK
James Vaughan
Australia
Klaus Wyborny
Germany

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