The Parson's Widow

When the parson of a Swedish village dies, a preaching contest is held to choose his successor. Young Söfren wins and runs to his fiancée in delight; then he learns the condition. Whoever takes the post must marry the previous parson's widow. She is old and has already buried three parsons. Söfren brings his fiancée into the house as his sister. The subject is not marriage but the young treating an old woman as an obstacle. Söfren waits for her to die and even tries to hurry it; the film plays this as comedy in the first half, and as he comes to know her the register changes completely in the second. The form is realist and tied to its locations. Carl Theodor Dreyer shot it in Norway in genuine timber buildings moved to an open-air museum; the interiors are not sets, an unusual choice for the period. It belongs to the director's early work. Here he tries for the first time what he would later develop: holding on an old woman's face at length and trusting expression rather than speech. Hildur Carlberg, who carries the film, was gravely ill during shooting and died shortly after it was finished. Einar Röd plays Söfren and Greta Almroth his fiancée. Who it is for: viewers who like silent cinema and narratives that change register. Who it is not for: anyone expecting comedy throughout; the film becomes something else entirely in its second half.