By his father’s deathbed, the young Karl Victor von Sendlingen swears that he will never make the same mistake his father made in his youth: to marry a girl beneath his own station. The promise proves to have fatal consequences when Karl Victor falls in love with a young governess, whom he impregnates but refuses to marry as this would break his oath to his father. Many years later, he is a highly respected president of the court about to deal out judgment to a young woman who has killed her new-born child. The young woman turns out to be his own illegitimate daughter, and Karl Victor is suddenly faced with the choice of doing his professional duty or making amends for his past misdeeds.
The film was directed by Carl Th. Dreyer – the most important director in Danish cinema. Internationally, Dreyer ranks among the greatest artists ever to work in the medium of film.
"Dreyer’s impressive debut film shows his enormous ambition in its intricate flashback narrative structure and its refined images, in which Dreyer was deliberately striving to imitate such painters as Whistler and Hammershøi. Dreyer personally designed the interior sets. Moreover, he toured Swedish and Norwegian theatres to find the right actors. Most remarkable about the film is the psychological complexity with which the protagonist is portrayed. Very few films before 1920 demonstrate anything remotely like it.
'The President' premiered in Sweden in February 1919, but rather surprisingly a full year passed before Nordisk Film released the film in Denmark. Nordisk seems to have had a policy of holding back certain finished films to avoid saturating the market, though it is unclear whether that is sufficient explanation. The President was not zealously promoted, nor did the critics appear to have paid it much attention. Still, Nordisk’s management was satisfied enough with Dreyer’s initial effort to let him try his hand at a far bigger production." (Source: Casper Tybjerg on www.carlthdreyer.dk)
The film has Danish and English intertitles, and the musical score is composed and performed by Ronen Thalmay.
The film was directed by Carl Th. Dreyer – the most important director in Danish cinema. Internationally, Dreyer ranks among the greatest artists ever to work in the medium of film.
"Dreyer’s impressive debut film shows his enormous ambition in its intricate flashback narrative structure and its refined images, in which Dreyer was deliberately striving to imitate such painters as Whistler and Hammershøi. Dreyer personally designed the interior sets. Moreover, he toured Swedish and Norwegian theatres to find the right actors. Most remarkable about the film is the psychological complexity with which the protagonist is portrayed. Very few films before 1920 demonstrate anything remotely like it.
'The President' premiered in Sweden in February 1919, but rather surprisingly a full year passed before Nordisk Film released the film in Denmark. Nordisk seems to have had a policy of holding back certain finished films to avoid saturating the market, though it is unclear whether that is sufficient explanation. The President was not zealously promoted, nor did the critics appear to have paid it much attention. Still, Nordisk’s management was satisfied enough with Dreyer’s initial effort to let him try his hand at a far bigger production." (Source: Casper Tybjerg on www.carlthdreyer.dk)
The film has Danish and English intertitles, and the musical score is composed and performed by Ronen Thalmay.
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