Scandinavian Film Clip

It took a year and a half for you to get your answer, but here it is: it is a clip from Dreyer's "Gertrud," from about minute 35. That clip also floored me, and I guessed (from the sound of the language) that it was probably Danish (which has a sort of pinched sound, unlike Swedish and Norwegian), and that it just might be "Gertrud." Luckily, it was (the cover of the Criterion box features the same actress, so I knew I was in luck). "Gertrud" is indeed a fantastic film -- like nothing else! As to the significance of the clip: Linklater has been quoted as saying that it is a tribute to Godard! -- referring to a scene in "Vivre sa Vie" where Anna Karina bursts into tears while watching Dreyer's "Passion of Joan of Arc." My own further interpretation is that, as "Passion" was made in 1927 and "Gertrud" in the early 60s, Linklater is suggesting (if only semi-consciously) that "Plow" may be to "Vivre sa Vie" as "Gertrud" is to "Passion" -- a new school of filmmaking is announced? Given Linklater's towering stature (in my opinion) among today's filmmakers, he has proved himself to be something of a prophet. "Gertrud," by the way, sent me on a quest to see the rest of Dreyer's sound films (there are only four), and, though the others are interesting, it seems to me to be far and away the most fully-realized. It is "filmed theater," but filmed theater of the most unusual and cinematic kind.

OMG yes! that was an absolutely amazing clip. So haunting and beautiful. Like something out of a Bergman or Fassbinder movie.

Turns out it was Dreyer. Okay, same difference.