Prästänkan (1920)

Director:

Carl Theodor Dreyer

Writers:

Kristofer Janson (story)
Carl Theodor Dreyer (adaptation)

Release Date:

4 October 1920 (Sweden)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

A young man is elected by a small village to be its parson. As part of his duties, he is required to marry the widow of the parson before him...

Plot Keywords:

Waterfall | Nursing Back To Health | Dancing | Drunkenness | Wedding

Cast

Greta Almroth	...	Mari
Einar Röd	...	Söfren
Hildur Carlberg	...	Margarete Pedersdotter
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Olav Aukrust	...	First Candidate
Emil Helsengreen	...	The Gardener
Mathilde Nielsen	...	Gunvor
Lorentz Thyholt	...	The Beadle
Kurt Welin	...	Second Candidate

Directed by
Carl Theodor Dreyer

Writing credits
Kristofer Janson		(story "Prestekonen")
Carl Theodor Dreyer		(adaptation)

Cinematography by
George Schnéevoigt

Editorial Department
Bret Hampton	....	editor: video (2003 alternate version)

Music Department
Neal Kurz	....	music compiler: Edvard Grieg's works (2003 alternate version)
Neal Kurz	....	musician (2003 alternate version)

Other crew
David H. Shepard	....	video producer (2003 alternate version) (as David Shepard)
Jan Wahl	....	titles: English titles (2003 alternate version)

Production Companies

• Svensk Filmindustri (SF)

Distributors

• Magnus Opus (2005) (Brazil) (DVD)

Also Known As:

The Witch Woman (International: English title) (USA)
The Fourth Marriage of Dame Margaret
The Parson's Widow
Youth to Youth
A Quarta Aliança da Sra. Margarida (Brazil) [pt]
Die Pastorenwitwe (Germany) [de]
La quatrième alliance de Dame Marguerite (France) [fr]
La vedova del pastore (Italy) [it]
Papinleski (Finland) [fi]

Runtime:

USA:71 min (2003 alternate version)

Country:

Sweden

Language:

Swedish | Danish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

USA:TV-14 (TV rating)

Filming Locations:

Lillehammer, Norway

Company:

Svensk Filmindustri (SF)

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood" (1995)

A posthumous (and minor) masterpiece.

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 the medieval Europeans suffered from backbreaking work, a total absence of education, and a desperate need for dentists. The scene when two of the 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.