Michael

A famous painter lives with the young man who has been his model and his ward for years. Michael is both a son and a source to him. A countess comes to the house to have her portrait painted. Michael takes an interest in her, drifts away from the house and starts selling his master's paintings. The old man sees it and says nothing. The subject is not betrayal but a love that goes unreturned being quietly accepted. The painter does not call the young man to account; he wants him happy and pays the cost alone. The film's famous final line gathers that surrender into a single sentence. The form is built on interiors. Heavy curtains, paintings, crowded objects. Karl Freund's cinematography lights from sources inside the room and faces are often left in half-darkness. The acting is far from the period's exaggeration. It was shot in Germany and belongs to Carl Theodor Dreyer's early work. The source is Herman Bang's novel. The relationship is never named but not concealed either, and the film is counted among the few of the silent era to treat homosexual feeling this directly. Walter Slezak plays Michael, Benjamin Christensen the painter and Nora Gregor the countess. Christensen was himself a director. Who it is for: viewers who like silent cinema and want to follow Dreyer's development. Who it is not for: anyone waiting for events; the film advances almost entirely on looks and interiors.