Review of Ordet (1955) by Mark B — 28 Dec 2008

I don't buy it. Sorry.

I'm sure this worked okay as a play; but in filmic terms it's severely lacking. Every scene seems to consist of actors sitting or standing alongside each other, facing out towards the camera, looking somewhere just over the viewers shoulder, taking turns saying often not very profound things in a slow, mannered fashion. Characters wander inexplicably into scenes in an 'enters left' sort of way.

This is not film! It's a filmed play. And I could argue one with rather stiffled, functional characterisations, and a sledgehammer approach to theological conundrum.