Glomdalsbruden

Last night I finished watching a series of early films by Carl Theodor Dreyer, with "The Bride of Glomdal", a great contrast after seeing "Michael". (The film in between these two was not available in the library of the film school where I work). For this production, Dreyer went to Norway and shot a story with a certain peasant candor (that would later reappear in "Ordet", in a graver tone) and that for the most part takes place outdoors, as opposed to "Michael", in which the action is confined to the sets designed by Expressionist architect Hugo Häring (who apparently did not work in films again). Dreyer narrates a tale of young love between the son of a poor farmer and the daughter of a rich one, and how the strong young woman fights to be with the man she loves, in spite of the actions taken by her father and another suitor, whose evil actions cause the most spectacular sequence during the day of the wedding, when the groom falls into a river and is swept away by its current, in the midst of floating logs, down to a waterfall. A pleasant and gentle dramatic comedy, "The Bride of Glomdal" does not suggest what was next to come from Dreyer: "The Passion of Jeanne d'Arc".