According to the law
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | According to law and order The pastor's widow The fourth marriage of Mrs. Margareth |
| Original title | Prästänkan |
| Country of production | Sweden |
| original language | Swedish |
| Publishing year | 1920 |
| length | 71, 94 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Carl Theodor Dreyer |
| script | Carl Theodor Dreyer |
| production | Svensk Filmindustri |
| camera | George Schnéevoigt |
| occupation | |
| |
According to law is a Swedish silent film drama from 1920 by Carl Theodor Dreyer, set in a small town and pastor milieu . The film was based on the short story Prestekonen by Kristofer Janson .
action
Sweden in the 17th century. The old local pastor died in a small town in the province. You are now looking for a successor. Three young men, including two from Copenhagen, apply for the position and each of them has to read a trial mass and thus expose themselves to the judgment of the community. But whoever is allowed to succeed, there is a catch: the winner of the post must, as is an old custom, marry the widow of his predecessor. This Margarete Pedersdotter is very old and has already survived three husbands. The winner of the attractive position - the parish is considered to be very wealthy - is the young Söfren. He is ready to submit to the conditions, but also brings his lover Mari into the house.
He claims the young woman is his sister, so that there are no moral concerns in the community. But one day Söfren reveals to Margarete that Marie was his fiancée and that both would only wait for her death to be able to live freely and openly as husband and wife. After the initial wrangling over competencies in the parish, Söfren and his significantly older wife, who were forced on him, seem to respect each other. Since in the course of time all three even begin to understand each other, Margarete Söfren and Mari do not reveal. The pastor's widow spends most of the time at the graves of her deceased husbands anyway, in order to communicate with them. Before everything is exposed and there can be a scandal, the old woman dies peacefully in bed, and Söfren and Marie can now live out their relationship safely. Both young people remember Margarete with gratitude for what she had taught them in this three-way relationship.
Production notes
According to Law and Law , one of Dreyer's two Swedish productions, was created in mid-1920 in the Norwegian Gulbrands Valley ( Garmo stave church and the Maihaugen open-air museum ) and opened in Stockholm on October 4, 1920. When exactly the film was released in Germany is unknown. Here he was sold under different titles, so next to Law and Law also under The fourth marriage of Mrs. Margareth and The pastor widow .
The role of the multiple pastor widow, who dies towards the end of the story, was played by the 76-year-old Hildur Carlberg . The elderly artist died shortly after the shooting ended, on August 27, 1920.
Reviews
“The Dane Dreyer is strongly influenced by the Swedish school here. He shot the whole film without a studio and cleverly incorporated the landscape into the plot. But you can also feel his interest in human faces. "
"Everything that bastard [Dreyer] does is amazing."
Web links
- Film reviews in the Swedish press
- According to the law in the Internet Movie Database (English)