199 - Master of the House, 1925, Denmark. Dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer.
Thou Shalt Honor Thy Wife.
Carl Theodor Dreyer is a giant of early cinema. His imprint is seen on many directors who came after him, and his influence is seen in many of their films.
By the time he made Master of the House (properly, Thou Shalt Honor Thy Wife) in 1925, he was already established as a major filmmaker in a Europe, a kind of Danish D. W. Griffith.
Dreyer had made outdoor epics already, and had worked in other countries, such as Germany, but now he turned his eyes on a household drama.
Nearly all action takes place in two rooms of the house.
Victor, the husband, is irritable and demanding. Ida, the wife, bears up under his cruelty and works for him. The children help.
They were happy once. And he was good to her. But he lost his business and was broken. Now he goes through the motions of awakening each morning, dressing, and going to work. But he has no job. So he resorts to barking orders at everyone and making the family's lives miserable.
Ida is patient with Victor and continues to love him. But she is dying inside. His scolding is slowly killing her.
Enter Mads.
Mads was Victor's own nanny when he was a boy. And she is still in his life as an old woman. She shows up to save the day.
She cannot take any more of Victor's abusive behavior towards Ida, so she gets Ida's mother involved and they take Ida away to live with her mother first and then somewhere secret, in order to get away from Victor and in order to heal.
Victor is not happy when he discovers that Ida has left him.
But Mads makes it clear that he goal is to make Victor stand in the corner--as he has done to his own son--and that she will do whatever it takes to make it happen.
Mads begins to make demands on Victor, essentially requiring him to do his wife's chores. She stays on him like a drill sergeant in boot camp.
And we watch to see if she will win her goal.
Can she make Victor stand in the corner? Can she make Victor want to change and do whatever it takes to win Ida back?
Master of the House was filmed in crisp black and white. The rooms were constructed on a soundstage, using the architecture of a real house as a model. The walls were built to move so that the camera could move in and get close to the actors. Close-ups were made by applying a vignette to the frame (a black matte around the edges with a circle cut out in the middle) rather than by moving in closer. Dreyer worked with established actors.
The film can be seen as a comedy and as a drama.
And as a cautionary tale.
Will Victor learn his lesson?
Will Mads succeed in getting him to stand in the corner?
And repent of the way he has treated his wife?
And change?
And honor her?
Thou Shalt Honor Thy Wife.
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