Master of the House

Dreyer, Palladium, Denmark, 1925. Viktor Frandsen (Johannes Meyer) bullies his wife Ida at home; when she leaves, the old nanny Mads (Mathilde Nielsen) moves in, puts him in an apron, and runs the house until he can be trusted with it. Dreyer keeps the camera in small rooms and low doorways. The Danish Film Institute treats it as his domestic film, made between the epics and Joan. No visions. A man learning he is not the title he gave himself.