The Parson's Widow

1920 ‘Prästänkan’ Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer

A young man is elected by a small village to be its parson. As part of his duties, he is required to marry the widow of the parson before him. This poses two problems--first, the widow is old enough to be his grandmother, and second, he is already engaged to another woman.

Hildur Carlberg Einar Röd Greta Almroth Olav Aukrust Emil Helsengreen Mathilde Nielsen Lorentz Thyholt Kurt Welin

Alternative Titles

The Fourth Marriage of Dame Margaret, Youth to Youth

drama comedy

71 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Cam ★★★½ 2

Cinematic Time Capsule
1920 Marathon - Film #30
”Do you think the old woman will be done for soon?”
Through a silly turn of events a young newly hired Parson finds himself married to an incredibly old lady while his actual fiancée poses as his sister so she can live with them. Now all they have to do is wait for the old lady to die.
This bizarre Swedish dramedy from Carl Theodor Dreyer almost feels like an early prototype for the Coen Brothers, and comes with a very simple story that I actually found touching by the end.
BONUS POINTS for when the pastor decides to dress up as a demon in order to scare the old lady to death. That’s the hardest I’ve laughed in this 1920 marathon so far.
”How did the widow bewitch you?”
“With a herring she gave me”

Cinematic Time Capsule - 1920 Ranked
Review by Fabian ★★★½

I was surprised by the sheer entertainment value of THE PARSON'S WIDOW, one of Carl Theodor Dreyer's earliest films. Today, the director is mostly known only for directing one of the greatest silent films of all time, The Passion of Joan d'Arc, but this Swedish production shows the potential he already had in the earlier years of his career. I actually really loved the screenplay; it has such a unique and funny idea and explores it fully, investigating its potential for comedic moments and still infusing it with substance and a wonderful romantic angle. The acting is very entertaining; I was particularly enchanted by Hildur Carlberg's turn as Dame Margarete (the actress actually died that very same year at the age of 76, almost 100 years ago).
Review by Lencho of the Apes ★★★ 2

I got a kick out of reading it as a gender-flipped version of the gaslighting-melodrama, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't what Dreyer intended. It's got religion, and women, and women's roles within religious institutions, and the folk-tale narrative makes it impossible to bitch about the big big plot-hole, so...
Maybe some kind of allegorical subtext that I'm not quite parsing out?
Review by Adriana Scarpin ★★★★

A Quarta Aliança da Sra. Margarida estreava há 100 anos na Suécia.
Esse é uma obra bem peculiar do Dreyer se comparado aos seus filmes mais famosos, claro que você notará os elementos em comum com o Dias da Ira, mas aqui a narração toma totalmente outra forma, quase cômica, embora ainda tenha lá seus momentos de melancolia e mostre as nuances do ser humano como Dreyer tão bem sempre fez.
Box Obras-primas do Cinema Carl T. Dreyer.
Review by Solce ★★★★

The Parson's Widow was one of Carl Theodor Dreyer's first films in the 1920s. The film is based on the short story Prestekonen by Kristofer Janson.
It tells the story of Söfren and his fiance Mari. Her father does not like Söfren and will not allow her to marry him until he gets a church allowance. Söfren later learns that he is competing with two other men, both wealthy academics from Copenhagen.
When Söfren's rivals host a dinner for the townspeople, the church committee announces that Söfren is their choice as pastor. The committee also makes public that Margarete Pedersdotter, the widow of the previous pastor, has exercised her right to demand that her husband's successor marry her.
Söfren lies…
Review by Dan ★★

Daily Horror Scavenger Hunt 21 - March 2020
6. We are going to watch a movie that is celebrating 100 years of existence! Watch a horror movie from 1920.
There isn't a lot of horror to choose from out of 1920 films with only 13 films tagged here, and I've seen the four most popular (although I sort of feel like I'm due for a rewatch of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari), but luckily Youtube comes to the rescue with this "horror" film by Carl Theodor Dryer, the Danish director who 12 years later would put together a very interesting take on the vampire mythos with his 1932 film, Vampyr. He's more famous for directing The Passion of Joan of…
Review by Robert Beksinski ★★★½

The Parson's Widow is a early silent film from Danish auteur Carl Theodor Dreyer. Even at this young stage in his career, Dreyer proves he can masterfully craft in the world of cinema as the best of them.
Dreyer's strong sense of religious obligation is evident throughout his second feature film and his trademark thematics interweaving spirituality and love. The difference here as opposed to his later more grand efforts is its light hearted humor mixed with the dramatic seriousness. This film had alot of screwball comedy elements as well as slap stick jokes with the newly hired Parson getting himself more and more in trouble with the old widow.
There is also something about the Scandinavian actors of the…
Review by Richard Gallon ★★★

Carl Theodor Dreyer’s love triangle drama is a rather simplistic but fun story to be told, the filmmaker’s style essentially a blueprint of the expectations of silent films with exaggerated facial expressions to turn a conventional story into something far more melodramatic.
1920 ranked
Review by Sally Jane Black

A few bad sexist jokes and some that are just unkind, but mostly, it's about how devotion has its rewards, intangible though they might be. It's a sort of weird, grim movie for a comedy, and it's rooted in a tradition I kinda hope was made up for the movie/source novel but might not have been. Regardless, it's hard to tell if the traditions in the story were more stringent than they appear, or if everyone's an idiot (just promise the widow you'll take care of her financially and marry Mari, parson, it's not that difficult). So perhaps this is a very early, oddly stodgy romantic comedy idiot plot, and maybe it's just a story I have no respect for…
Review by TajLV ★★★½

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Letterboxd Season Challenge 2019-20
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Week 8: October 27th-November 2nd
Horrors Crossing Borders Week (Sweden)
This Swedish dramedy was the sophomore release of Danish writer-director Carl Theodor Dreyer, based upon the 1901 short story "Prestekonen" by Norwegian author Kristofer Nagel Janson. It opens beside an ancient waterfall in a Norwegian village, where a new parson must be chosen. Among the applicants is Söfren (Einar Röd), who arrives from a neighboring village with his fiancée Mari (Greta Almroth). But he is not alone in interest for the position, facing a pair of academics from Copenhagen.
An audition is held before the congregation. After the first candidate (Olav Aukrust) puts everyone to sleep with his sermon and the second (Kurt Welin)…
Review by suchkova ★★★★

I can't quite understand what about scandinavian silent cinema speaks to me, maybe its aesthetic maybe the type of stories it tells, but I love them all so much!
Review by Shane Brashear ★★★★

Two Carl Theodor Dreyer silent flicks this year, and both are comedies. This one is a lot more fun than most people would think it would be, but that's because most people don't realize how funny movies from Scandinavia can be. The humor is also a little more modern than one might expect.
Take an early scene in which we're thrust into the cutthroat world of competitive preaching. Our protagonist is in a three-minister contest against John Lennon and a visibly-ill John Candy. And our hero, instead of Dreyer just making him an impossibly pristine and lovable figure, almost aims for buoyant anti-hero as he wishes the devil on one and attempts to sabotage the other. It's a funny scene,…

Recent reviews

Review by suchkova ★★★★

I can't quite understand what about scandinavian silent cinema speaks to me, maybe its aesthetic maybe the type of stories it tells, but I love them all so much!
Review by geezer aaaaaaaclub ★★½

nice devil costume einar
Review by Cam ★★★½ 2

Cinematic Time Capsule
1920 Marathon - Film #30
”Do you think the old woman will be done for soon?”
Through a silly turn of events a young newly hired Parson finds himself married to an incredibly old lady while his actual fiancée poses as his sister so she can live with them. Now all they have to do is wait for the old lady to die.
This bizarre Swedish dramedy from Carl Theodor Dreyer almost feels like an early prototype for the Coen Brothers, and comes with a very simple story that I actually found touching by the end.
BONUS POINTS for when the pastor decides to dress up as a demon in order to scare the old lady to death. That’s the hardest I’ve laughed in this 1920 marathon so far.
”How did the widow bewitch you?”
“With a herring she gave me”

Cinematic Time Capsule - 1920 Ranked
Review by LeSchpountz ★★★½

My Points: 7.2
My Letter Grade: B+
My Stars: ★★★½
My Rating: Very Good -> This film has something special and that makes it unforgettable.
Average Rating: 7.043

Review
-> The film is based on a story „Prestekonen“ by the Norwegian poet Kristofer Janson.
-> Both exterior and interior shots were filmed at the Garmo Stave Church and the Maihaugen museum at Lillehammer, Norway.
-> Dreyer shows himself strongly influenced by the Swedish school. 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.
-> The role of the multiple pastor widow who dies at the end of the story was played by…
Review by Adriana Scarpin ★★★★

A Quarta Aliança da Sra. Margarida estreava há 100 anos na Suécia.
Esse é uma obra bem peculiar do Dreyer se comparado aos seus filmes mais famosos, claro que você notará os elementos em comum com o Dias da Ira, mas aqui a narração toma totalmente outra forma, quase cômica, embora ainda tenha lá seus momentos de melancolia e mostre as nuances do ser humano como Dreyer tão bem sempre fez.
Box Obras-primas do Cinema Carl T. Dreyer.
Review by Slugbreath ★★★★

I found this film to be surprisingly engaging. The film could have gone a completely different route than it actually did, and I was surprised in a good way.
Recommended!
Review by The Film Mufti ★★★½

Bone-dry comedy (!) from Carl Th Dreyer starts with a refreshing mean streak about it, before giving way to a genuinely touching conclusion. His wry humour is apparent from the beginning, when he casts the least photogenic men imaginable to flank his lead actor, who by comparison looks like the hottest piece of man-ass in all of Norway. (Einar Röd is rather dashing—I can’t believe this was the only film he ever made.)
One wishes that perhaps ol’ Theodore could have told his story without quite so many intertitles—he could easily and quickly have shown us the things some of them gloss over—but it keeps everything galloping along at a nice pace.
Review by Cinemalinea ★★★★

Gak nyangka kalau Carl Theodor Dreyer pernah bikin film komedi, dan masih tetap berpijak dengan ciri khasnya yaitu tema Kristen. Film ini menceritakan tentang seorang pria bernama Sofren yang ingin menikahi Mari kekasihnya, tetapi ayah Mari akan mengizinkan mereka berdua menikah jika Sofren telah menjadi seorang pendeta. Tetapi yang tak ia sangka ketika dirinya lolos ujian menjadi seorang pendeta, dirinya harus menikahi Margarete seorang pendeta wanita yang telah lama menjanda. Dan semakin terkejut ketika Margarete menampakan dirinya yang merupakan seorang wanita tua.

Komedi yang disajikan Dreyer dalam film ini memang bukanlah komedi slapstick main fisik semacam Chaplin atau Keaton, tapi Dreyer menyajikan humor dengan berbagai macam cara, entah itu teknik editing hingga wardrobe, dan kadangkala juga mengandalkan tingkah laku kocak. Teknik…
Review by Richard Gallon ★★★

Carl Theodor Dreyer’s love triangle drama is a rather simplistic but fun story to be told, the filmmaker’s style essentially a blueprint of the expectations of silent films with exaggerated facial expressions to turn a conventional story into something far more melodramatic.
1920 ranked
Review by Júlio Cézar Rodrigues ★★★★½

Um belíssimo exemplo de narrativa audiovisual cíclica, com uma moral ambígua e personagens igualmente dúbios.
Review by Nashville Dude ★★★★

1920
An uneasy tonal mix of surreal comedy and strikingly tender melodrama, this is another fascinating early effort from Dreyer that may be his most purely entertaining work up to this point.
It almost feels like Dreyer's teasing out the possibilities of different filmmaking approaches, between this and Leaves from Satan's Book. This scans more as a DeMille-esque melodrama, even as it teases out idiosyncrasies of perspective that are peculiar to Dreyer. Honestly found this whole effort markedly more fascinating than I'd expected I might.
Review by Woojin ★★

형형색색의 필터와 음악은 좋다만