Torben Skjødt Jensen

Carl Th. Dreyer—My Metier

Carl Th. Dreyer—My Metier

Torben Skjødt Jensen's elegant documentary is a collage of memories and reflections on one of cinema's greatest directors. Visually rich and densely layered, Carl Th. Dreyer—My Metier illuminates an artist too little understood and too important to overlook. Through interviews, historical writings, and rare archival footage, a portrait of Dreyer emerges: an austere perfectionist, yes, but also a passionate man possessing a genuine sense of humor. The Criterion Collection is proud to present this in-depth study of Dreyer's life and work for the first time on home video.

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Film Info

  • Denmark
  • 1995
  • 94 minutes
  • Black & White
  • 1.66:1
  • Danish
  • Spine #128

Special Features

  • Digital transfer, supervised by director Torben Skjødt Jensen
  • Rare interview footage and archival material
  • Extensive biographical essay by Dreyer scholar Edvin Kau
  • PLUS: A reprint of Dreyer’s essay "Thoughts on My Metier"

Available In

Collector's Set

Carl Theodor Dreyer

Carl Theodor Dreyer

DVD Box Set

4 Discs

$63.96

Out Of Print

Special Features

  • Digital transfer, supervised by director Torben Skjødt Jensen
  • Rare interview footage and archival material
  • Extensive biographical essay by Dreyer scholar Edvin Kau
  • PLUS: A reprint of Dreyer’s essay "Thoughts on My Metier"
Carl Th. Dreyer—My Metier
Cast
Henning Jensen
Dreyer's voice
Henning Bendtsen
Interview subjects
Hélène Falconetti
Birgitte Federspiel
Preben Lerdorff Rye
Lisbeth Movin
Baard Owe
Jørgen Roos
Axel Strøbye
Credits
Director
Torben Skjødt Jensen
Scenario
Torben Skjødt Jensen
Assistant director
Prami Larsen
Idea
Lars Bo Kimergaard
Commentary
Harald Paalgaard
Assistant photographer
Birger Bohm
Video photographers
Torben Sjkødt Jensen
Video photographers
Prami Larsen
Editing
Ghita Beckendorff
Producer
Michael Brask

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Carl Th. Dreyer

Subject

Carl Th. Dreyer
Carl Th. Dreyer

The creator of perhaps cinema’s most purely spiritual works, Danish master Carl Theodor Dreyer is one of the most influential moving image makers of all time, his arrestingly spare and innovative approach echoed in the films of Ingmar Bergman, Robert Bresson, Andrei Tarkovsky, Lars von Trier, and countless others. After making his mark with such narrative silent films as the provocative Michael (1924) and Master of the House (1925), Dreyer created The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), which, though deemed a failure on its release, is now considered, with its mix of stark realism and expressionism (and astonishing, iconic performance by Maria Falconetti), one of the great artistic works of the twentieth century. For the next four decades, Dreyer would continue to make films about people caught in battle between the spirit and the flesh and to experiment technically with the form. Vampyr (1932) is a mesmerizing horror fable full of camera and editing tricks; Day of Wrath (1943) is an intense tale of social repression, made during the Nazi occupation of Denmark; Ordet (1955) is a shattering look at a farming family’s inner religious world; and Gertrud (1964) is a portrait of a fiercely independent woman’s struggle for personal salvation.

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