REMEMBERING GERTRUD

The final, resolutely unfashionable film from grand old master Carl Theodor Dreyer, Gertrud was met with dismissal in 1964 and continues to be somewhat overlooked even today. But this week, Jonathan Rosenbaum reminds us of its unique beauties and unconventional approach to narrative and character. On his website, the critic has posted his brilliant, rigorous analysis of Dreyer’s film from the winter 1985–86 issue of Sight & Sound. In it he argues that the director’s biogaphy, in particular his regard for his lost mother, played a major part in the film’s conception and in its subtle deviations from the 1906 source play by Hjalmar Söderberg. Rosenbaum’s post is also full of lovely, crisp images from the film.