Cinema
Master of the House
Du skal ære din hustru
Carl Th. Dreyer · 1925
Synopsis
At the Frandsens', in a small Copenhagen flat, Ida wears herself out from morning to night while her husband Viktor, a domestic tyrant, demands to be looked after and complains about everything. Mads, Viktor's old nurse, who raised him and does not fear him, is indignant. When Ida, at the end of her strength, lets herself be persuaded to go and rest at her mother's, Mads takes charge of the house and sets about re-educating the man she rocked as a child.
Context
The film is drawn from Tyrannens Fald, a play by Svend Rindom performed ninety-eight times in Copenhagen from 1919, and its screenplay is written by the director with the author. Produced by Palladium, it was shot almost entirely in the Frandsens' flat, which the director designed himself and whose every wall could be removed to film from all angles. It was released on 5 October 1925; Karin Nellemose made her debut in it. Released in France in the spring of 1926, it was a great success there.
Who it is for
A silent film of about an hour and three quarters, a domestic chamber piece. A comedy of manners, briskly paced for its time.
Prizes and reception
Its success in France opened the way for its director to The Passion of Joan of Arc; added in 2006 to the Danish cultural canon.
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