Carl Theodor Dreyer ultimately became a director with a very personal style, comparable with Robert Bresson and Yasujiro Ozu. "The parsons widow" (1920) is however an early film made during a period when he was still influenced by Scandinavian directors like Mauritz Stiller and Victor Sjöström.
The story is about a man that will only get permission to marry his fiancee from the father of the girl when he gets a decent job. When he finds a job however tradition obliges him to marry the widow of his predecessor.
Dame Margarete (the widow played by Hildur Carlberg) wears a peculiar kind of hat that made her look (to me at least) like a female Nosferatu (from the film of the same name by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau from 1922). The resemblance is only valid for the appearance however, because inside Dame Margarete is rather sympathetic. In essence "The parsons widow" is a film in which all main characters are nice. They are however held captive by some ruthless rules of tradition.
Touching for me was the dead of Dame Margaret at the end of the film. No violent dead or agony caused by disease but a dignified farewell from a life she regarded as completed.
The story is about a man that will only get permission to marry his fiancee from the father of the girl when he gets a decent job. When he finds a job however tradition obliges him to marry the widow of his predecessor.
Dame Margarete (the widow played by Hildur Carlberg) wears a peculiar kind of hat that made her look (to me at least) like a female Nosferatu (from the film of the same name by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau from 1922). The resemblance is only valid for the appearance however, because inside Dame Margarete is rather sympathetic. In essence "The parsons widow" is a film in which all main characters are nice. They are however held captive by some ruthless rules of tradition.
Touching for me was the dead of Dame Margaret at the end of the film. No violent dead or agony caused by disease but a dignified farewell from a life she regarded as completed.