Carl Theodor Dreyer

Biography: life and films

For those who are familiar with his work, Carl Theodor Dreyer would appear to be the perfect embodiment of the filmmaker as an auteur. In a career spanning five decades he made just fourteen full-length films and eight short films, but whilst his output was modest his oeuvre represents a kind of cinema that is unique in its beauty, simplicity and potency. Dreyer's striving for psychological and emotional realism is apparent throughout his work and finally achieved fruition in his last few films, although in his time his achievements were seldom widely recognised. For Dreyer, cinema was a means of exploring and expressing the fundamental truths of human experience, not a tawdry commercial activity.

Dreyer's most important films are characterised by common themes - the suffering of women and the triumph of the human soul over life - and a distinctive visual style. For most of his films, he employed the close-up extensively to allow the spectator to peer into the soul of the protagonist and become involved with the inner drama being played out therein. As his career progressed, Dreyer became increasingly less interested in the outer world, the world of surface impressions. His real interest was in showing us what lay beneath the surface, the conflicts and passions that afflict us all and from which all drama, indeed all human activity, ultimately derives.

In his later films, Dreyer became less reliant on close-ups and instead used long takes and meticulous picture composition to achieve a similar effect - to show the interior life of his characters. Dreyer sought to develop an alternative to conventional montage, where the film elements are not dead pieces of celluloid but fragments of a living composition, in which camera motion, lighting and the subtle movements of the actors are all meticulously choreographed to achieve a reality that goes beyond mere naturalism.

Dreyer's reputation rests on a mere handful of the films he made. These include La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc (1928), which has long been considered one of the great masterpieces of French silent cinema; Vampyr (1932), an eerie evocation of the vampire legend inspired by Sheridan Le Fanu's Gothic novella Carmilla; and Ordet (1955), his penultimate film and the one which won him his greatest accolade, the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. As impressive as these films are, they only reveal a fraction of Dreyer's genius. No appraisal of Dreyer could be complete without reference to his other films - the expressionist masterpiece Mikaël, the deliciously amusing satire Master of the House, the intensely brooding Day of Wrath, and the exquisite hymn to love that is Gertrud. There has never been a filmmaker who understood the subtleties of the human heart so well and was able to convince us of this through his work.

Carl Theodor Dreyer's own life is as interesting as the films he directed. He was born out of wedlock on 3rd February 1889. His mother was Josefine Nilsson, an unmarried Swedish housekeeper who was made pregnant by her employer, Jens Christian Torp, a Danish landowner living in Sweden. To avoid a scandal, Nilsson was forced to give birth away from home, and so Dreyer was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. Dreyer spent the first two years of his life at an orphanage, before he was adopted by Carl Theodor Dreyer, a typographer, who gave him his name. The boy's adoptive parents were strict Lutherans who never let him forget how fortunate he was to have been adopted. Although Dreyer's childhood was generally unhappy, he did well at school and showed signs of having a keen intellect.

After leaving school at 16, Dreyer found work as a clerk for various firms, including The Great Northern Telegraph Company. Around this time, he left home, never to return, and met Ebba Larsen, whom he married in 1911. Aged 18, he went to Sweden to look for his biological parents and was shocked to learn that his mother, an attractive and good-natured woman by all accounts, had died barely a year after his birth, from an abortion that involved sulphur ingestion. This discovery, together with his own Lutheran upbringing, would have a profound impact on Dreyer and influence many of the films he would subsequently make. The one unifying theme of Dreyer's oeuvre is the unjust suffering of women.

On his return to Copenhagen, Dreyer gave up his soul-destroying clerical work and opted for a more precarious career in journalism. He was fascinated by new technology and had a particular interest in the exciting new phenomenon of aviation. On 4th July 1910, he was famously the first passenger on a flight across the Sound between Denmark and Sweden, accompanying the Danish aviator Robert Svendsen. He subsequently took flying lessons and became a keen ballooning enthusiast, earning himself the reputation of a reckless young daredevil.

It was around this period that Dreyer discovered cinema and developed an interest in the new art form, an interest which would very soon become the greatest passion in his life. In 1913, he abandoned journalism to work for the Nordisk Film, Denmark's leading film production company. He began in a modest capacity, writing inter-titles for silent films and appraising the scripts that had been submitted to the studio. He quickly graduated to writing his own screenplays (around twenty of which ended up being made into films) and working as a film editor.

Dreyer's directing debut came in 1918 with Præsidenten (The President), an intense melodrama about abused women and illegitimate children. Although Dreyer was unhappy with the end result, the film was innovative for its time, on account of its use of flashbacks and striking naturalism (much of the film was shot on the island of Gotland). Even on this first film, Dreyer found that he had complete control over the entire production, from writing the script, to casting the actors and overseeing the set construction. His attempts to have this level of control on his subsequent films would often bring him into conflict with his producers. Præsidenten is also significant in that it introduces a major theme in Dreyer's work, his portrayal of women as martyrs, the victims of men's unthinking cruelty.

In his second film for Nordisk, Blade af Satans bog (a.k.a. Leaves from Satan's Book), Dreyer was greatly influenced by the groundbreaking films of D.W. Griffith, notably Intolerance (1916). Dreyer had conceived an extravagant production that was way beyond the resources of Nordisk, and so inevitably there were arguments over the size of the budget. Whilst he may not have achieved his original vision, Dreyer turned in a remarkably innovative film, which was particularly noteworthy for its use of the close-up - most notoriously to show the expression on a woman's face when she is murdered. The close-up was a revelation for Dreyer - it provided a means by which he could convey true emotional feeling through the most subtle of gestures on an actor's face. The close-up would assume an ever increasing importance in Dreyer's subsequent films, achieving its apotheosis in his La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc (1928).

By the early 1920s, the Danish film industry was in decline and had been overtaken by that of Sweden. This, together with his falling out with Nordisk, prompted Dreyer to lend his services to Svensk Film, the Swedish company which would later produce the bulk of Ingmar Bergman's films. Here, he would get to know and be influenced by the great Swedish filmmaker Victor Sjöström. As it turned out, Dreyer made only one film for Svensk in this period of his career: Prästänkan (The Parson's Widow) (1920). This was Dreyer's first masterpiece, a compassionate satire on ageing and the status of women in society. With its portrayal of the struggle between the spiritual life and everyday existence, it prefigures many of his later films.

Dreyer then made Die Gezeichneten (Love One Another) for a small German company named Primus-Film. This modest film, about the persecution of Russian Jews at the time of the Bolshevik revolution, is often overlooked and is rarely seen, on account of the fact that only a few prints are still in existence. After this, Dreyer returned to Denmark to make Der var engang (Once Upon a Time) for Paladsteatret. The director was on the whole dissatisfied with this, his one excursion into fairytale, although it demonstrated that he could, if he chose, tackle lighter subjects.

Back in Germany, Dreyer found himself employed by UFA on another prestige production, Mikaël (1924), which explores the problematic relationship between an artist and his muse. The film shows the influence of German expressionism (an attempt to express inner moods through lighting and set design) and is distinguished by its overt homoeroticism. The film was critically acclaimed in Germany and Denmark but it was not a commercial success.

Dreyer's breakthrough film was Master of the House (Du skal ære din hustru), the first film he made for the Danish company Palladium. In this amusing but astute social satire, Dreyer develops his use of the close-up as a technique to reveal the inner feelings of his characters and achieve an enhanced level of emotional realism. The film was a major success in France and resulted in Dreyer being offered a contract there with the prestigious company Société Générale de Films.

Having quickly knocked out another film in Norway - Glomdalsbruden (Bride of Glomdal) - Dreyer moved to Paris and found himself in the company of other avant-garde artists, notably Jean Cocteau. Société Générale de Films' speciality was historical dramas so Dreyer was given the opportunity of making a film on the life of one of three subjects: Marie-Antoinette, Catherine de Medici or Joan of Arc. Dreyer selected the latter of these, reputedly by drawing lots.

For what was to be one of his finest and most widely praised films, Dreyer undertook extensive research. Having trawled his way through masses of documents, he constructed the screenplay from written testimony of Joan of Arc's trial. Maria Falconetti, an established stage actress, was hired for the role of Joan after Dreyer had failed to sell the part to the major French film actress of the period. (It was not the most appealing of prospects, to appear in a film without make-up and have all your hair cut off.) The film is memorable for being assembled almost entirely of close-ups. Dreyer's intention was not to sanctify his subject but to show her humanity, by focusing our attention on her inner anguish. The film ends not in tragedy but in a glorious spiritual victory, a depiction of the triumphant martyr which would recur in Dreyer's later films.

On its release, La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc was instantly hailed as a masterpiece, but this didn't prevent Dreyer from coming to blows with his new bosses. Société Générale de Films did not consider the Danish director value for money and so terminated his contract. Dreyer responded in kind by suing the company, successfully. In 1930, he then founded his own production company, Film-Production Carl Dreyer, financed by the aristocratic cinephile Baron Nicolas von Gunzburg, on the understanding that he would have a leading role in their first collaboration. That film was Vampyr, Dreyer's first sound film and a surprising departure into the fantasy horror genre.

Although Vampyr is a remarkable piece of experimental cinema, offering some innovative subjective camerawork and haunting imagery, it was a commercial disaster. Virtually bankrupt and completely worn out by the experience of making this film, Dreyer suffered a nervous breakdown and had to be admitted to a Paris hospital, which just happened to be named the Clinique Jeanne d'Arc.

For the next decade, Dreyer attempted various projects, but none of these came to anything. The one that came closest to being made into a film was L'Homme ensablé (The Man in the Sand), which was set in Italian Somaliland. In 1934, Dreyer rewrote an initial screenplay by the Italian journalist Ernesto Quadrone. Shortly after arriving in Somalia for the location shoot, he went down with Malaria and had to return to Denmark. Dreyer wrote a few more screenplays, without success, and ultimately he was driven back into his former profession of journalism in 1936. After an unsuccessful stint as film critic, he worked as a court reporter, although he still hankered after making another film.

Mogens Skot-Hansen, head of short film production for the Ministerial Film Committee, hoped to restart Dreyer's film career by persuading Nordisk to hire him to make a short film. This was Good Mothers (1942), a short which promoted the services of an institution for unmarried pregnant women. Although Dreyer fulfilled his brief to the letter, Nordisk refused to produce his next film, Vredens dag (Day of Wrath), for which he had written a complete screenplay. Palladium, Denmark's other major film company, were more accommodating and agreed to make the film.

Day of Wrath is, both thematically and stylistically, more in keeping with how we now tend to regard Dreyer - an austere, forbidding work which is the most fierce condemnation of the cruelty of society and individuals. It is certainly Dreyer's darkest film, its solemn mood reflecting the fact that it was made at a time when Denmark was under Nazi occupation. The film is a stark contrast with the director's earlier work, with its pared back composition and use of long takes with minimal movement within the frame. In common with Dreyer's final two masterworks, there is a haunting stillness to the film, a placid surface calm through which we may perceive a storm raging within each of the protagonists. Although this film is now considered a modernist masterpiece, it had an extremely poor reception when it was first released in Denmark.

Dreyer's luck did not improve with his next film, Två människor (Two People), the second of the two films he made for Svensk Filmindustri. Right from the start, Dreyer ran into conflict with the studio over how the film should be made and, not surprisingly, it turned out to be a complete disaster. The film was to be Dreyer's biggest flop and was disowned by both the director and Carl Dymling, the head of Svensk.

After this setback, Dreyer approached another Swedish company, Luxfilm, and collaborated with Norwegian writer Sigurd Hoel on the screenplay for Därför dräpte jag. The film came close to being made but was aborted just before the end of the war. Dreyer then returned to Denmark and, in 1948, began working for Dansk Kulturfilm, in various capacities - screenwriting, editing, and directing. During this time, he continued developing his own screenplays, including an account of the exploits of Erik the Red and an adaptation of Marcel Pagnol's plays Marius and Fanny. The latter was intended to be shot on location in the United States, with a cast composed entirely of non-professional actors.

Impressed by Day of Wrath, the British company Film Traders Limited contacted Dreyer with a view to making an epic adaptation of the life of Mary Stuart. Dreyer worked solidly on the screenplay for six months, undertaking detailed research, but his vision proved to be way beyond the resources of the British company, who ultimately dropped the project.

In the early 1950s, Dreyer considered making a film about the life of the painter Paul Gauguin but, yet again, this would never see the light of day. Around this time, Dreyer was introduced to the American multi-millionaire Blevins Davis, who agreed to bankroll his dream project, a film on the life of Jesus Christ. Funded by Davis, Dreyer dedicated a full year to writing the screenplay for what he believed would be his magnum opus. He even taught himself Hebrew and spent a great deal of time in Israel gathering material for the film. Even after Davis's interest in the project had evaporated, Dreyer continued to refine the screenplay, confident that one day his film about Jesus would be realised.

In 1952, Dreyer at last achieved some measure of financial security when he became the owner-manager of Dagmar, one of Copenhagen's most important cinemas. He ran the cinema successfully right up until his death in 1968, and in doing so guaranteed himself a steady income for the only time in his life.

More than a decade after Day of Wrath bit the dust, Palladium agreed to produce Dreyer's next film, Ordet (The Word). A powerful exploration of the nature of faith, told with a startling simplicity, this film earned Dreyer international acclaim and won him the Gold Lion award at the Venice Film Festival in 1955.

Almost another decade passed before Dreyer made his next film, Gertrud, again produced by Palladium. Curiously, this film was shot at Nordisk Film, in the same studio in which the director had recorded his first film 46 years earlier. Gertrud is the most perfect expression of the main theme in Dreyer's work, the idea of the female martyr who triumphs over a life that is defined by intense suffering. Technically, it is also Dreyer's most impressive piece of filmmaking, employing long takes to great effect, imbuing the film with a stillness through which the soundless voice of the heroine's troubled soul is easily heard. Whilst Gertrud is now widely considered to be Dreyer's finest achievement, it was badly received when it was released in 1964. After a disastrous premiere in Paris (the venue being a half-finished cinema with a shoddy screen), most critics trashed the film, although a few (notably those on the Cahiers du cinéma) saw its worth.

Undeterred by this critical and commercial failure, Dreyer began work on the screenplay for his next film, Medea, which might well have starred Maria Callas. Although Dreyer did not get to make the film, his screenplay was used for a 1987 television film directed by Lars von Trier. Dreyer planned to follow Medea with his film about Jesus, for which he had by now written a 400 page screenplay. Alas, his dream was not to be fulfilled. On 20th March 1968, he died from pneumonia, aged 79.

The great tragedy of Carl Dreyer's life was that he was unable to win the recognition he was due in his lifetime, something that is poignantly reflected in the constant struggle he had to find producers willing to back his films. But in common with the resilient heroines in his films, Dreyer's struggle and unwillingness to compromise paid off in the end. He now emerges triumphant as one of the great visionaries of cinema art, and possibly the greatest of the great auteur filmmakers. Whilst most film directors are content with showing us what we can see with our own eyes, Dreyer made it his life's work to reveal a deeper and truer reality, the one that dwells within us.

Filmography

Click here to view complete list of films...