Vredens dag (1943)

Director:

Carl Theodor Dreyer

Writers:

Release Date:

24 April 1948 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

In a 17th-century Danish village, an old woman is accused of witchcraft. In the shadow of her flight...

Plot Keywords:

Pastor | Confession | Witch | Love | 17th Century

Cast

Kirsten Andreasen	...	(uncredited)
Sigurd Berg	...	(uncredited)
Albert Høeberg	...	The Bishop (uncredited)
Harald Holst	...	(uncredited)
Emanuel Jørgensen	...	(uncredited)
Sophie Knudsen	...	(uncredited)
Preben Lerdorff Rye	...	Martin (Absalon's son from first marriage) (uncredited)
Lisbeth Movin	...	Anne Pedersdotter (Absalon's second wife) (uncredited)
Preben Neergaard	...	Degn (uncredited)
Sigrid Neiiendam	...	Merete (Absalon's mother) (uncredited)
Emilie Nielsen	...	(uncredited)
Thorkild Roose	...	Rev. Absalon Pederssøn (uncredited)
Hans Christian Sørensen	...	(uncredited)
Anna Svierkier	...	Herlofs Marte (uncredited)
Olaf Ussing	...	Laurentius (uncredited)
Dagmar Wildenbrück	...	(uncredited)

Also Known As:

Day of Anger (USA) (video title)
Day of Wrath (USA)

Runtime:

97 min | USA:110 min | Argentina:94 min

Country:

Denmark

Language:

Danish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | South Korea:15 (2003) | West Germany:16 (w) | Finland:S | Argentina:13

Company:

Palladium Productions

Trivia:

Though the film is outwardly a chronicle of a religious witch-hunt, it contained many subtler comparisons to the behavior of the Nazis (torture and questioning) and Carl Theodor Dreyer fled Denmark for Sweden where he remained until the war was over.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The film is set in 1623. But at the back of the main room, where much of the action takes place, is a large wooden chest with a Latin inscription, mostly legible: "[Quae?] parum novit nemo docere potest 1639."

Quotes:

Anne Pedersdotter: I see through my tears, but no one comes to wipe them away.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in From Dreyer to von Trier: An Interview with Cinematographer Henning Bendtsen (2005) (V)

In Majorem Gloriam Dei

Dreyer's pictures are absolutely mind-boggling .We seem to be in a Rembrandt's or Georges de la Tour's painting.He works with his camera the way a painter does with light to create different textures ,highlights and shadows.The scenes inside the minister's house where the world is still the prey of the good/evil concept are in direct contrast to those ,luminous and pastoral,where the lovers try to reinvent life:some kind of Garden of Eden,which the apple tree on the picture has promised.

Anne's passion was doomed from the start:her situation recalls that of Phaedra:both are pure even in sin,both are victims of an implacable heredity.Even before Martin's appearance ,the over-possessive mother leaves her no chance at all.

Remarkable sequences: the old woman's "trial",her tortures,her screams (I'm not afraid of Heaven or Hell ,I'm afraid to die!" Her death at the stake ,with Ann looking through the window pane ,and realizing it's an omen.The children singing terrifying canticles about God's wrath.

The minister beginning to wonder if his faith is strong enough and the wife's infamous revelation.

The nature which was a refuge, the only sunlight the lovers could get,becomes misty ,almost dark,as the young man has lost all his hopes and illusions."No,Ann says ,it all begins" It's the seventeenth century and Ann is too ahead of her time.She and the old woman are the real human beings in the movie:the minister and his sinister mother are already dead when the film begins as much as the dying man he comforts in his last hour .Martin has got himself tangled up in remorse,superstitions (You've got a magic power) and if life means rebellion and fight ,his surrender leaves him a living dead.

The old woman ,the "witch" ,is afraid to die,which is human:Jeanne D'Arc herself,another "witch" which inspired CT Dreyer had her moments of doubt and fear,and she abjured to save her life .

"Vredens Dag" can still grab today's audience.This is a must.