Gertrud

Denmark at the turn of the century: one after the other, the upper middle class Gertrud ends things with her husband, her childhood friend, and her young lover, whom she has only recently met. None of the three men is willing to prioritize their love for her over their own careers. Her credo that love is life itself is absolute and non-negotiable and just as uncompromising as her decision to choose solitude and her own world over everything else. By paring down the film’s various aesthetic elements to the greatest possible degree, including the set design and props, Dreyer finds the appropriate form for her radical decision. (mg)