AllMovie

It's difficult to imagine why antipathy initially greeted what proved to be Carl Theodor Dreyer's last film. Granted, Gertrud did not have the ambitious scope of Ordet or the intensity of either Vredens Dag (Day of Wrath) or La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc. Perhaps by 1964 Dreyer's style was considered stodgy, as it involved long takes in which he prefers his camera to follow his characters, or, in conversation, to pan back and forth between them, always keeping a respectful distance (the film reportedly has only 89 shots). In retrospect, it is possible to see Gertrud Kanning as yet another troubled soul in the Dreyer universe. The three loves in her life -- her husband Gustav, her former lover Gabriel, and her current lover Erland -- all fail to satisfy her simple requirement for ongoing and unselfish affection. In the film's key scene, shown in flashback, Gertrud discovers a note written on scrap paper on Gabriel's desk -- "A woman's love and a man's work are mortal enemies" -- that she comes to understand will always be a barrier against her ever finding happiness with a man. In the title role, Nina Pens Rode offers an exquisite portrait of a woman in emotional distress but also beginning to understand the power she has to control her own emotional destiny, even if it requires living it out in solitude.