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Based on the 1906 play by Swedish dramatist Hjalmar Söderberg, Danish auteur Carl Theodor Dreyer's final film, Gertrud, follows the vicissitudes of Gertrud Kanning, a former opera singer married to a prominent politician. But in Gertrud's rarefied world of arts and letters, her marriage does not live up to her ideal of love; she leaves her husband for a passionate affair with the handsome young composer du jour, Erland Jansson. When he too disappoints her, she must choose between her ex-lover, the poet Gabriel, or stoic resignation to the impossibility of fulfilment. Turning on Nina Pens Rode's masterful central performance in her final role, Gertrud showcases the cinematic precision and beauty for which Dreyer is revered.
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