Close Up

11 June 2017: Take Two: Ordet / Theorem

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Ordet
Carl Theodor Dreyer
1955 | 126 min | B/W | DCP

"In a remote West Jutland farming community, a severe father of three sons refuses to let one of them, Anders, marry the daughter of a man with whom he has religious differences. When Inge, his daughter-in-law, dies in childbirth, Johannes, the visionary son, prays for her resurrection. Based on a play by Kai Munk and winner of Best Film at the 1955 Venice Film Festival, Dreyer’s penultimate work is an extraordinary expression of spiritual optimism. Dreyer achieves the powerful effects by deceptively simple means. Using only 114 shots, he makes the film into an enriching experience." – Harvard Film Archive

Theorem
Pier Paolo Pasolini
1968 | 98 min | Colour | DCP

"A radically streamlined and elliptically simple film, Teorema remains one of Pasolini’s most mysterious works. The story of a sexually magnetic stranger, played by a mesmerizing Terence Stamp, who methodically disrupts the well-ordered household of a wealthy Milanese industrialist, Teorema’s hidden tensions are brought to the surface with a shocking suddenness that remains as inexplicable as it is inevitable. Meant as a merciless savaging of the bourgeoisie, Teorema features a pair of well-known Italian actors as the subjects of its critique – Massimo Girotti and Silvana Mangano as husband and wife – as foils to the alluring stranger, who may be angel or demon, or something else entirely." – Harvard Film Archive