Ordet (1955)

An austere parable on the power of faith, Carl Theodor Dreyer’s penultimate film culminates in a transcendent resurrection scene.

Ordet was the only film Carl Theodor Dreyer directed during the two decades between Two People (1945) and his final film, Gertrud (1964). With Gertrud, it represents the apotheosis of his controlled visual style, consisting of long, uninterrupted takes, with one shot often sufficing for an entire sequence. The 124-minute running time contains only 114 shots.

The film focuses on a devout parson and his three sons, the eldest of whom, Mikkel (Emil Hass Christensen), has rejected God altogether, while his sibling Johannes (Preben Lerdorff Rye) has had a breakdown and thinks himself to be Jesus.

Based on a 1932 play by Kaj Munk, the material is transformed by Dreyer into uniquely slow, hypnotic cinema that examines the nature of believing. The ending ranks among the medium’s most beautiful and mysterious.

“This film is the high watermark of spiritual or transcendental cinema. Strangely atmospheric and exceptionally intense, Ordet ’s discomforting meditation on the nature of real faith is served by Dreyer’s masterful handling of camerawork, staging, physical detail and sound, and builds to a climax that is arguably the most astonishing and moving in all cinema.” Jonathan Owen

“It’s hard to think of another film that more exquisitely captures the perpetual heartbreak of being among other people, the distances of understanding that linger in the spaces between figures in a single shot. It literally takes a miracle to bring them together: a miracle made possible through cinema.” Kevin B. Lee

“Mise en scène as miracle.” Marco Müller

1955 Denmark
Directed by
Carl Th. Dreyer
Produced by
Erik Nielsen
Written by
Carl Th. Dreyer
Featuring
Henrik Malberg, Emil Hass Christensen, Preben Lerdorff Rye
Running time
126 minutes

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound

Who voted for Ordet

Critics

Mo Abdi
Iran/UK
Inácio Araújo
Brazil
Joana Ascensão
Portugal
Jon Asp
Sweden
Vasco Baptista Marques
Portugal
João Pedro Bénard
Portugal
Emilio Bustamante
Peru
Josh Cabrita
Canada
Giulio Casadei
Italy
Gerard Casau
Spain
Thomas C. Christensen
Denmark
John Conomos
Australia
Sam Davies
UK
Klaus Eder
Germany
Miquel Escudero Diéguez
Spain/Chile/France
Lorenzo Esposito
Italy
Juan Manuel García Ferrer
Spain
Fran Gayo
Spain/Argentina
Kevin Gough-Yates
UK
Nicolas Helm-Grovas
UK
Jan Holmberg
Sweden
Richard T Kelly
UK
Mark Le Fanu
UK
Kevin B Lee
USA
Akira Mizuta Lippit
USA
Eva Markovits
France
Gustavo Martín Garzo
Spain
Lucrecia Matarozzo
Argentina
Luis Miranda
Spain
Marco Müller
Italy/China
Davide Oberto
Italy
Hugo Obregón
Spain
Javier Oliva
Spain
Jonathan Owen
UK/Canada
Manuel Peláez
Spain
Višnja Pentić Vukašinović
Croatia
Edward Porter
UK
Carlos Reviriego
Spain
Adam Roberts
UK
José Maria Rodríguez Armada
Spain
Jonathan Rosenbaum
USA
James Schamus
USA
Christopher Small
UK/Czech Republic
Eduardo Stupía
Argentina
Drake Stutesman
USA
Richard I Suchenski
USA
Matt Turner
UK
Michael Witt
UK

Directors

Richard Ayoade
UK
Alex Barrett
UK
Pat Collins
Ireland
Denis Coté
Canada
José Luis Garci
Spain
Gonzalo García-Pelayo
Spain
James Gray
Sawandi Groskind
Finland
Sangsoo Hong
South Korea
Alejandro González Iñárritu
Mexico
Daniel Kokotajlo
England
Joe Lawlor & Christine Molloy
Ireland
Carlos Marqués-Marcet
Spain
May Miles Thomas
UK
Lluís Miñarro
Spain
Fernando Navarro
Spain
Tadhg O'Sullivan
Ireland
Pere Portabella
Spain
Martin Scorsese

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