The Parson's Widow (1920) User Reviews

A minor masterpiece from another time.

[leif-38 · 8/10 · 26 May 2005]

Prästänkan (literal translation of title: The Parson's Widow).

The Parson's Widow is significant for two reasons– It is one of the very few national romantic films, and it's one of the very first films to make extensive use of locations.

National romanticism was a 19th century movement that glorified pure hearted, independent farmers (as opposed to the aristocrats) and looked to the hinterlands as a source of pure culture and moral inspiration. It was particularly influential in Norway, the film's location.

As The Parson's Widow begins, Søfren, a divinity student, is offered a position in a rural parish¬– provided he marries the parson's elderly widow. He accepts, despite his betrothal to Mari, whom he passes off as his sister. This theme could exist only in a land where poverty and hunger were facts of life.

Modern audiences may find The Parson's Widow overly moralistic and sentimental. It has a 19th century feel– owing more to romantics like Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson than to more modern novelists like Knut Hamsun, who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1920, the year the film was made. At that point, national romanticism was on its way out.

The story has a few supernatural overtones, but this is no horror film. In The Parson's Widow, the fantastic elements originate from folk beliefs and function primarily as cultural references.

Set in an indefinite past, The Parson's Widow makes extensive use of locations at a time when few filmmakers ventured beyond studio doors. It idealizes rural life in a way that anticipates Robert Flaherty's Man of Aran. And, like Flaherty's film, The Parson's Widow meticulously recreates practices that were rapidly disappearing.

The opening scenes were shot at Garmo stavkirke (stave church) in Maihaugen– the open air museum in Lillehammer, Norway. The farmstead scenes are probably shot at the same place, and the older extras would have been the last generation to learn the crafts they demonstrate as part of daily life.

People today will view The Parson's Widow primarily because it is an early film of director Carl Theodore Dreyer. But this is no beginner's work. Beautiful composition, expressive lighting, and obsessive attention to detail are signature marks of the director who gave us The Passion of Joan of Arc and Vampyr. The Parson's Widow stands as a minor masterpiece in its own right, but the romanticism is unlikely to resonate with today's audiences.

A posthumous (and minor) masterpiece.

[Irie212 · 8/10 · 8 August 2009]

Hildur Carlberg, the skilled septuagenarian actress who plays Dame Margarete, died in August, 1920, two months before this film opened-- a heartbreaking irony, in part because the plot involves her youthful husband marrying her only to await her death.

The film has marvelous comic moments, capitalizing on the fact that medieval European peasants suffered from backbreaking work, a total absence of education, and a desperate need for dentists. The scene when a couple of clerics (the losers) compete for the job of parson by delivering sermons in which they inadvertently skewer their own backwardness is priceless, especially as they are speaking to a congregation of bedraggled and toothless locals who were mostly in church to nap. And the scene where an old lady hocks something out of her nose before returning to her needlepoint-- fabulous.

Dreyer, a committed naturalist who didn't even approve of make-up on his performers, shot this film on location at Maihaugen, Norway, in an open-air museum of 200 medieval buildings. Even the interiors are authentic. Every frame shows it. Watch particularly for a folk wall hanging in Dame Margarete's home. This is another silent gem from the director of The Passion of Joan of Arc.

Dreyer treats subjects amusingly, and sentimentally, that he would later treat seriously

[Quinoa1984 · 8/10 · 11 August 2008]

The Parson's Widow is not entirely a really great silent film; it loses some of its strengths as a satire on marriage and (partially) religion when it starts to get a little sentimental towards the end. But for a while, one sees a film by the master Danish filmmaker Carl Th. Dreyer flexing his directorial muscles on something that is something one might not expect from seeing such pieces of perfect tragedy like Joan of Arc or Day of Wrath. Here we get the story of Sofren (Einar Rod), an unconventional would-be Parson who 'auditions' for the position by going on about the devil in an off-beat manner (yes, off-beat). He learns that in order to become the village Parson, he needs to marry the presumed local old witch, Miss Pedersdotter (grim-faced Hildur Carlberg), who lures him in with a piece of cursed cod and has him succumb to marry her - but he really wants Mari (Almroth), and cannot until she dies. But when?

There's some splendid comic set-pieces set in here, like with Sofren trying to scare the old Miss in a devil-disguised sheet, only to be foiled by his own slippers, or when Sofren tries to sneak out at night to see Mari and continually gets caught (or, in one case, another old woman in the bed!) But what's more amazing here is Dreyer's choices in casting. Rod is perfect for this kind of frustrated, ambitious but conniving sort, with great and imaginative eyes that do a lot while seeming to do little (one compared this as Dreyer doing Day of Wrath as a Chaplin, but I don't see much of Chaplin in his main male lead), and Carlberg is so dead-on for this old widow who may or may die (depending on if a life-lengthening potion works) that it's among some of Dreyer's best actors in one of his movies.

While Dreyer sometimes loses his footing in the story, as mentioned towards the end, he makes up for it with some curious scenes, like the dance at the wedding, or the specific use of colored tints. When Sofron has the weird dream state of seeing a 'young' Miss Pedersdotter, we see it in a haze of light red (or maybe blue), and it's completely dazzling for a moment. It might be a slightly lighter affair than his more 'serious' pictures, but for the curious digging into Dreyer's catalog, it's not at all a disappointment. At its best Parson's Widow has a good, hard farcical grip on the subject matter.

Imagine "Day of Wrath" directed by Chaplin...

[Lilcount · 14 October 1999]

The name Carl Theodor Dreyer may inspire images of slow pans, heavy religious/mystical themes, and somnolent pacing, but it was not always thus. During his apprenticeship at Nordisk in the early '20's Dreyer scripted, edited, and directed all kinds of films. "The Parson's Widow" anticipates themes in the mature Dreyer, namely religion and carnality, but cloaks them in an agreeable, fast-paced (for Dreyer!) silent comedy.

A young parson wins a plum parish in 17th century Norway, but is obliged to marry the widow of his deceased predecessor and pretend his attractive young fiancee is his sister. Dreyer milks the situation for gags but goes for a sentimental finish a la Charlot. The master's touch is apparent in the close-ups of the pastor's would-be rivals and parishioners and a slow pan presaging the 360-degree views in "Vampyr." Amazingly, HIldur Carlsburg in the title role closely resembles Maurice Schutz, the old chatelain in "Vampyr," and the mother-in-law in "Day of Wrath."

All in all, a good film. But it is hard to believe that the director of this pleasant work could produce "La Passion de Jeanne D'Arc" just 6 years later.

A Better Beginning

[Cineanalyst · 7/10 · 9 June 2005]

I haven't seen Carl Theodor Dreyer's directorial début, "The President" (Præsidenten), yet. I've seen "Leaves from Satan's Book" (Blade af Satans Bog), however, and it was totally unimpressive. Dreyer took from Griffith's "Intolerance", but didn't even manage a simulacrum of the American director's craft. "The Parson's Widow" is a much better beginning for Denmark's great filmmaker. It is the work of a director coming into his own, even though it's much different in some ways from the rest of his oeuvre.

As with "Leaves from Satan's Book" and his later films, there's the preoccupation with history and religion. But, as others agree, this is Dreyer light. The story of a man who must marry a hag to become a village's parson, and his plots to marry his young fiancée and keep the job despite it is amusing. I thought the devil costume bit was particularly humorous. Dreyer's direction is what makes this worthwhile, though. The quick pace, not lingering on shots and improved camera positioning compared to "Leaves from Satan's Book" make this film more accessible and entertaining.

Dreyer again uses masking and fades extensively, but this time it adds to the style. He gets the most out of the actors. (It shouldn't be underestimated how quicker shot succession can improve, or detract from, otherwise unremarkable acting.) Additionally, the introduction to the past through the waterfall was an especially nice touch. The confining location sets, and more importantly, how Dreyer and cinematographer George Schnéevoigt film them also add greatly to this tightly told film. The small church full of dividers is just a great find, and they use the spaces of the home of the parson's wife very well, with camera placement and continuity editing.

A fine drama of religion, love and death

[bclaireburchill · 9/10 · 7 January 2006]

"The Parson's Widow" is one of the best silent films that I have ever seen. Its images, its pace, and its themes all blend together into one fine production from the young director Carl Theodor Dreyer.

Since the plot of the film is well-covered by other reviewers, I will focus on other elements of the film. The photography of the film is rich and subtle, just what one would expect of the film's director. The opening scene of a waterfall is one of the many refreshing Norwegian country images that enliven this film. In some cases, the photography also reveals the characters' inner states of mind. The scene where the young minister gets drunk is photographed through a diffuser; the images look fuzzy and indistinct. This diffuser is removed and the image becomes clear again when the minister sobers up. Again, the photography of the film is quite clever and contributes greatly to experience of watching the "The Parson's Widow".

The period flavor is also excellent. The film was produced in the historical village of Lillehammer, Norway. The film exudes the feeling of life in seventeenth century Europe. Churchgoers are herded into stall-like pews, and the elders are instructed to tap them on the shoulder with a stick when they fall asleep during the sermons. One can almost feel the environment where the drama plays itself out.

Perhaps the only flaw in "The Parson's Widow" is its performances. The performances are pretty good, but the fast pace of the film (it is about seventy minutes long) makes it difficult for any of the performers to shine brightly. "The Parson's Widow" is definitely story-focused;little time is allowed for the actors and actresses to establish bits of business that might deepen their characterizations.

All the same, "The Parson's Widow" is a small masterpiece and I recommend its viewing to all persons interested in the themes of love, death or religion. Enthusiasts of Carl Theodor Dreyer should be doubly pleased by this remarkable drama.

The most surprising Dreyer yet.

[dawtrina · 6/10 · 23 May 2009]

Over the mountain wander Sofren and Mari. Sofren is a student of theology come to apply for the vacant position of parson in this rural Norwegian village. Mari is his fiancée, but not yet his wife because her father won't allow it until he becomes a real parson. Luckily for him, his two competitors from Copenhagen aren't particularly up to the task. The first looks like a cross between John Lennon and Bill Gates and bores his audience to sleep, so much so that even the man tasked with keeping everyone awake drops off; and the other is a bloated fool who keeps them amused only because Sofren has stuck a feather to the back of his head.

So Sofren it is: the five bearded elders tasked with the decision don't have much of a task after all, given that he's young and dynamic and can think on his feet. However, there's a catch, for there must always be a catch. The local custom is that the parson's widow comes with the job. This wasn't for any religious reason, merely a practical one because someone has to take care of her, after all, but this particular parson's widow, Dame Margarete Pedersdotter, has outlasted the previous three parsons only to be handed over each time to their successors 'like a piece of furniture'.

And just as Sofren had no problem outsmarting his rivals, who run for the hills the moment they see Dame Margarete anyway, the parson's widow outsmarts Sofren. Eager to retain her position running the parson's house, she persuades him subtly to propose. There's mention that she may be a witch but she really accomplishes it with a herring and a bottle of schnapps. So Sofren becomes the parson and Dame Margarete becomes the parson's wife once more, mistress of her whole domain. And with this setup, with Mari introduced into the mix as Sofren's sister rather than his fiancée, naturally hilarity ensues.

Well hilarity is a strong term, given that this is a Swedish silent film from 1920 and a Carl Theodor Dreyer movie to boot, but it's a lot closer to hilarity than I'd have ever imagined for one of his films. I've seen a lot of them, having been utterly stunned by The Passion of Joan of Arc and fascinated into finding as much of the rest of his work that I could. This was the second film Dreyer directed, but the eighth of his fourteen feature length movies for me. It's the first to invoke laughter, which comes about mostly in a subtle way but with some stooping to pantomime, such as the scenes where Sofren prances around in an elaborate Satan suit after he becomes convinced that his wife is a witch.

It's constructed well, with strong performances and memorable characters, varied shots and varied expectations. It looks good, whether inside or out, and there's a lot of use of the common silent film masking technique that turns the screen into a small circle to highlight what we should be looking at. As would fit a story built around a folk custom, there's a great deal here that speaks to customs and folklore, from dances to rituals to beliefs. Quite which Scandinavian culture or cultures this applies to, I'm not sure, given that it's a Swedish film set in Norway but based on a Danish story, but they're fascinating.

And backing up Dreyer's direction, Dreyer being a man who controlled his films as surely as Dame Margarete controls her household, are a number of memorable performances. Einar Röd plays Sofren as something of an imp. We rarely see him in church, this being one of the least religious religious films I've ever seen. Instead we watch him try all sorts of hare brained schemes to try to see his Mari, always coming up short but learning something in the process, there very much being a lesson here in and amidst the comedy. Greta Almroth is a wholesome but frustrated Mari, reminding a little of Elsa Lanchester.

Best of all is Hildur Carlberg as Dame Margarete, dominant throughout but always human. Born as far back as 1843, she was 76 when she made this film, her third and last. With a memorable face with many lines showing her age and a memorable gait that would have made her a prime candidate for a major role in a zombie movie, it's sad that she wouldn't make any more. She died two months before this film was released. I wonder if they nailed a horseshoe above her door and sprinkled linseed oil on the ground to ensure she didn't come back to haunt her house.

The Parson's Widow - A Silent Classic to Discover!

[JLRMovieReviews · 10/10 · 25 July 2016]

In Carl Theodor Dreyer's "The Parson's Widow," we see a young man with his love in hand traveling to a small village in search for a preacher's position. Upon arrival, he finds he's one of three applicants. The other two put the congregation to sleep, but he speaks of hell and damnation. After learning he's hired, he's told the last parson's widow's hand is offered in marriage to the next parson. He is aghast at this! Then, he meets her. He being twenty something, she being much, much older, he is very wary and uneasy about this situation. He does go to her house and is mesmerized by the amount of food in front of him. He eats heartily and in his drunk, dazed, tired and woozy state of fullness, he sees (a vision of) her as a young lady and says he will marry her – but, when he comes to his senses later, he asks that "his sister" is given a job and quarters near him. (He and the widow do have separate rooms.) He tries to make night visits to his young love, but through obstacles never makes it. Will he eventually find love with the parson's widow, or will he and his young love find a way to happiness together? I've read that many of Dreyer's followers say that this is his best film, despite the fact this is not done in his usual solemn dramatic style. I have not seen all of his work, but I enjoyed this film very much. It was very heartwarming and had moments of feeling that are indescribable. Its combination of humor (with some characters) and depth (of others) creates a beautiful composition, or even a painting of far off. I know the music (exquisite!! – a variation of Grieg, the credits say) heard throughout probably has been redone, but I have never been so moved by the whole experience of a silent picture in a long time. This should be seen more often on TCM, so more people can discover this silent classic.

Very accessible Dreyer film

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 29 October 2023]

In order to take on the previous incumbent's living, a young clergyman has also to take on the deceased man's widow, which is a trifle inconvenient as said parson is in love with another. The parson in question is in also competition with two other 'academic' types who are treated with scorn and ridicule due to the quality (or lack of it) of their sermons. What starts off rather cruelly, with the young lovers waiting for the old woman to die, develops into a moving human story, although it does flag a little in spots. The latter scenes of the widow saying 'good-bye' to her surroundings and people when she feels she is to die soon is particularly moving and powerful. Ironically, life imitated art as Hildur Carlberg, who played the widow, died shortly afterwards, though several of her listed films are fortunately still around. Mathilde Nielsen, who played the tyrannical nurse in Dreyer's Master of the House, plays one of the widow's servants.

Certainly recommended to those fearing an hour or so with Mr Dreyer to be an austere and dreary prospect, this film also has an admirable period feel to it, though some of this is perhaps due to the use of unfamiliar (to me, at least) faces.

A Story of True Love

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 9 March 2010]

It took a while to latch on to this story because its characters aren't initially very likable. A young parson is willing to do anything to get a job, including marrying the past parson's widow. Since she is quite old, he figures she can't last long. He continues this charade, even moving his fiancée into the house (pretending to be his sister). Meanwhile the widow, a homely woman who has had to endure this rule more than once, bides her time, lives her life, and has no pretensions of anything other than mutual living space. As time passes, she begins to grow on the young man. He sees her for the caring, loving person she is. There is not romantic involvement, only the saving of a soul and the reclamation of a charlatan. This is a simple film that has an excellent message.

Intelligent Nordic Sense Of Humour

[FerdinandVonGalitzien · 7/10 · 30 January 2009]

Sofren and Mari, are two youngsters who wander into a typically idyllic Norwegian village. The village is searching desperately for a new parson and Sofren has studied hard for the ministry. He has been encouraged in this by his sweetheart Mari because her father will not allow her to marry Sofren until he becomes a real parson. There are two other applicants for the job of village parson but after a hard competition and delivering a splendid sermon, Sofren wins that Gott job. But there is a catch: according to parish law, Sofren must wed the late parson's widow, Dame Margarete; that's a terrible dilemma for Sofren since he cannot get Mari if he doesn't get the post and he will not get that unless he weds the old woman…

"Prästänkan" ( The Parson's Widow , 1920 ) is an excellent and wonderful work in spite of the fact that it is only Herr Carl Theodor Dreyer's second film as a director but perhaps this is not a strange thing at all if we have in mind Herr Dreyer's great debut, "Praesidenten" (1919), reviewed by this German count in this modern diary sometime and liked by this Herr Von very much according to his aristocratic standards, natürlich!.

Everything is remarkable in "Prästänkan" ( astonishing art direction, again not unusual in Herr Dreyer's early works, in which every minor detail is matched carefully with wonderful outdoor scenery and technical effects that enrich superbly the film story ), but the most remarkable aspect of the film for this German count is Herr Dreyer's skill in filming a story with a religious subject but resisting the temptation to be sacrilegious or irreverent, the most obvious and easy ways for many directors to depict such a delicate subject. On the contrary, Herr Dreyer is very respectful of the religious theme of the story but includes also an intelligent sense of humour, Nordic humour natürlich!. The funny scenes fit perfectly in a story in which impatient and inexpert youngsters vie with a wise and crafty woman, and where all will learn their own lessons until finally common sense prevails.

And that's a great Herr Dreyer film goal; to make a "local" story with its Northern customs into a universal film, overriding country barriers. That only happens when the author is a very skillful man, natürlich!.

By the way, even though this German count speaks elegant languages such as Latin and ancient Greek, the first time that "Prästänkan" was shown in the Schloss theatre, the nitrate had Swedish intertitles only, a dead language for this Herr Von. For that reason it is necessary to praise Herr David Shepard ( a singular longhaired youngster who cares about silent films ) for his superb English edition of this film so that illiterate youngsters around the world may also enjoy it.

And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must attend a dinner in which will be served parson's noses.

Swell silent classic, as entertaining as it is sincere

[I_Ailurophile · 9/10 · 15 June 2022]

Many surviving silent films hold up well, but while some are outstanding classics, not all are made equal. I'm pleased that 'The parson's widow' is an example of a title that remains fresh and engaging. True, just as much as revisiting such old movies is a bit of a trip through time, the focus here on a small Christian parish is perhaps a tad alien to modern viewers, to say nothing of the very notion of the bizarre custom underlying the premise. Yet that is the impetus for the plot, equal parts comedy and lighthearted drama, and with that the feature remains smart, playful, and worthwhile.

The filming locations and set design and decoration are fetching, and I appreciate the costume design, and hair and makeup work. While some of the sequencing could stand to be more mindful, overall the editing is wonderfully sharp and adds to the viewing experience. Whether credit for that aspect is owed to filmmaker Carl Theodor Dreyer or his collaborators, or preservationists in more recent years, is a matter of some question, but either way it's well executed. Dreyer illustrates fine skills as director, and his cast capably realize their characters with suitable personality and nuanced range, with star Einar Röd especially standing out.

'The parson's widow' is a great picture in general, though still more than anything else it's the writing that's most critical. There, too, Dreyer impresses, even as this is one of his earliest works as a filmmaker. Plentiful, pleasant situational humor characterizes the levity throughout - forefront at the start, then nicely balancing the more (relatively) serious drama as the length proceeds. Though never robustly funny, the comedy is consistently clever as protagonist Söfren, prospective fiancée Mari, and title figure Margarete dance around an uncomfortable scenario and a slight sense of power dynamics. There's mild tension carried through these scenes as well, and the result is a feature that deftly bears a tone that's light, but not farcical, and dramatic, but not ponderous.

I'm honestly rather delighted at just how excellent this is. Not all modern viewers can abide silent films, which I do understand, but this is so roundly enjoyable that I'd have to imagine even the most stubborn of hold-outs may find it appealing to at least some degree. Even in 2022 comedy-dramas sometimes have difficulty finding an even keel, but Dreyer achieved it here with an ease and gracefulness that's commendable. Rounded out with themes of love, patience, and linking generations together, 'The parson's widow' is an unexpectedly strong picture that continues to stand fantastically tall more than 100 years later. My recommendation can only be as earnest and heartfelt as this is - it's a lovely title that deserves more recognition and fond remembrance.

The Parson's Widow review

[JoeytheBrit · 7/10 · 29 June 2020]

Considering how rare a Carl Theodor Dreyer comedy is, it's something of a surprise to find how many laughs the Danish director of the stale Leaves from Satan's Book and gloomy Ordet gets out of the gentle humour to be found in this lightweight tale. Looking and behaving more like a 21st Century hipster than an 18th Century Man of God, Einar Rod plays a luckless young man who, upon securing a position as a village parson so that he may wed his fiance, discovers that a condition of the new job is that he must wed the former parson's widow. Much of the humour is mined from the way that his attempts to steal a few hours with his fiancé are repeatedly foiled by his new old wife, played to perfection by Hildur Carlberg (who sadly died before the film's premier).

The film is well made but the story didn't make a lot of sense...

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 8 September 2016]

In some ways it's not hard to see that this is a film of Carl Theodor Dreyer. After all, religion is front and center in many of his pictures as well as his discussing the hypocrisy within it. But, on the other, the film is a comedy of sorts....and comedy and Dreyer are not usually associated with each other. Don't worry...the comedy is very dry and subdued so it still has the Dreyer touch...don't expect a Keystone comedy here!

When the film begins, three young men out of seminary are being tested out to see which one will be the new minister in a small town. Sofren is thrilled when he is selected, as now he and his fiancé will be able to get married...right? Well, no. The appointment has a bizarre clause...one so strange that the story never really made any sense. As a pre-condition, the young man was required to marry the old minister's wife. Odd...but even more ridiculous when she appears to be 4 or 5 decades older than the young man! Yet, he is ambitious and a bit scheming and so he marries her and plans on keeping his fiancé on the side...telling his elderly bride that she is his sister.

The bottom line is that apparently the Danes thought this sort of odd situation comedy was great stuff back in the day. Now, it just seems a bit, well, stupid. Well made...very well made...but stupid.

The Widow's New Parson

[EdgarST · 14 November 2011]

I do not know if Dreyer's first feature, "The President" was a big hit, to speculate if he had strong doubts about what his next films would be. In any case, it did not take long before he started shooting again, for the next year he released "Leaves Out of the Book of Satan" and next "The Parson's Widow", a production made and financed in Sweden. The story tells how a young man, when selected as the new parson of a community, marries his predecessor's old widow (who claims her right to do so), but brings along his own fiancée to live with them, making her pass as his sister. There is opportunism on both the parson's and the widow's sides, but this being a comedy these matters are treated lightly, as are eluded reflections on the options we may have in old age or youth, when facing the possibility of losing everything, as in the widow's case, or the shaping of a career and a happy life, in the young man's. Yet this is a strange comedy, for melancholy is always present, mainly reflected on the old but still beautiful and dignified face of actress Hildur Carlberg; and if it is true that Dreyer was not intent on making an ethnographic treatise, one of the most interesting aspects of his film is the portrait of rural settings, customs and rites, as religious sermons, feasts, weddings and funerals. If you ask me I prefer "The President" to this film, but it was a firm step in the filmography of the creator of "The Passion of Jeanne d'Arc", "Vampyr" and "Ordet".

A lesson in stoicism

[frankde-jong · 7/10 · 2 August 2021]

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.

A wonderfully affecting comedy

[davidmvining · 8/10 · 20 July 2021]

This steadily won me over more and more as it went along. A light comedy with a surprising amount of pathos in the end, The Parson's Widow, Dreyer's second film, is a wonderful little find from the earliest days of cinema. There's a confidence to the filmmaking and subtlety to the performances that had been largely missing from The President, his first feature, that helps provide a strong emotional base on which the movie's final act requires in order to work.

It's the story of a young parson, Sofren, fresh from the seminary with his fiancée, Mari, in tow. He's walking his way to the remote Norwegian village where Sofren is applying to be their parson. He's up against two other recent seminarian graduates, both educated at more prestigious institutions. The opening around this contest between the three is the broadest comedy of the film, and it works least. It's amusing in its own way as we watch the first drone his audience to boredom and sleep while Sofren sabotages the second by placing a feather in his hair that turns him into a laughingstock. When the village elders decide on Sofren, they also outline a specific rule they have for their parsons. The new one must marry the widow of the previous. Margarete is very old and has been through this process three times before. She knows what she's doing, so when the other two applicants run off at the sight of her, Margarete takes Sofren back to his house, gets him drunk off of schnapps, and gets him to propose to her.

Even sober it ends up making some sense to both Sofren and Mari. Margarete is old. She probably won't last too long, and since Mari's father won't let Sofren marry Mari until he has a situation, this is a necessary and temporary situation for them to endure until they can marry. Margarete is also an imperious old woman who puts Sofren under her thumb immediately, so they have to hide Mari by calling her Sofren's sister and bringing her into the household as a maid.

So is the setup for the bulk of the film where Sofren tries desperately to find time with his fiancée without either Margarete or her other two servants from finding out. Sofren grows more and more bitter as his efforts come to comedic frustrations that often lead him to accidentally sending amorous moves towards Margarete's older female servant. It even comes to the point where they decide to try and kill Margarete by frightening her to death. Sofren dresses up as a picture of the devil in a book, and it begins to work until she notices Sofren's slippers underneath the costume. Frightening him off, she immediately goes to his room in the middle of the night, letting Sofren suffer outside in the cold for hours until he decides to own up to it, costume head in hand, and confront his wife.

Everything changes when Sofren decides to take things a little too far. Margarete goes up into a loft, and Sofren pulls the ladder away. Walking away, he doesn't realize that Mari is up there as well, and she falls down, breaking a leg and getting a concussion. Margarette becomes like a mother to Mari, comforting her as she convalesces, and this human side to Margarette convinces Sofren to simply tell her the truth. This decision to finally reveal what he wants softens Margarette. This tradition in the village isn't new, and her first husband of 30 years was also caught in the same situation where he had to marry the previous widow for five years before they could marry each other.

All of the pathos of the ending is really built on the shoulders of the elderly actress Hildur Carlberg. Born in 1843, she was 75 years old when she made The Parson's Widow (dying a few months after filming), and she provides an amazing performance as Margarette. She is conniving early as she plots her succession, of a sorts, and once Mari gets injured, she convincingly turns into a worried mother, baring herself to the husband that she had wronged. It's very possible she understood the real situation between Mari and Sofren, choosing to secure her position jealously rather than allow two young people the love they shared, but when Mari gets injured, Margarette sees the error of her ways, the parallel to her own youth, and the humanity of her husband, and Carlberg sells it perfectly. It's a great silent performance.

Outside of the movie's fairly rote first act (that's still entertaining enough on its own), there's something really wonderful going on from the moment Margarette is introduced. That it ends with such deep emotion is actually rather surprising, but welcomed and earned as well.

This is a wonderful film, a second film that any director should be proud of. Confident and clear, The Parson's Widow is a very strong entry in Dreyer's filmography.

A pathbreaking romance with a lesson of goodwill easily makes into my top 5 films of Carl Theodor Dreyer.

[SAMTHEBESTEST · 7/10 · 3 August 2022]

Prästänkan / The Parson's Widow (1920) : Brief Review -

A pathbreaking romance with a lesson of goodwill easily makes into my top 5 films of Carl Theodor Dreyer. Having seen all the acclaimed works of Carl Theodor Dreyer, be it Danish or Swedish, I can easily say that The Parson's Widow makes it into my top 5 films (if not top 3) by the legendary director. All my top favourite Dreyer films belong to the talkie era: "Vampyr" (1932), "Vredens Dag" (1943) and "Order" (1955), except for his best work ever, "The Passion of Joan of Arc" (1928), which was a silent movie. Prästänkan does not beat Joan's passionate story and Ordet, but finds equal praise as the other two films. The Parson's Widow is a weird romance. I think weird is an insulting word, so let me call it pathbreaking. Hal Ashby made "Harold and Maude" (1971) after 51 years, where a teenager falls in love with an old lady, and the latter dies in the end. Now imagine seeing the same stuff in a Swedish film made in 1920. A young graduate marries a lady of his grandmother's age to win the love of his girlfriend. How weirdly pathbreaking and fascinating idea it was! And the climax has a great deal of goodwill to leave you with a positive message and tender sentiments. The film is based on a story called Prestekonen by Kristofer Janson, and I don't know nothing about that. I just followed Dreyer's film adaptation and loved it. Einar Röd as Söfren is good, but seems over-expressive on many occasions. One such example was that feeling dizzy scene. But I liked his final quote, "We owe her a great debt, Mari. She taught you to keep a good home and she taught me to be an honourable man." Any real man would love that. Hildur Carlberg as Dame Margarete is a show stealer here, while Greta Almroth poses cutely as an innocent girlfriend. Writer and director Carl Theodor Dreyer has done a fabulous job of making one of the most daring and beautiful love stories that stands the test of time, even today. His most significant achievement during his early career.

RATING - 7.5/10*

By - #samthebestest.