Carl Theodor Dreyer Quotes

Denmark, Film Director
February 3, 1889 – March, 20, 1968.

Carl Theodor Dreyer, commonly known as Carl Th. Dreyer, was a Danish film director. He is regarded by many critics and filmmakers as one of the greatest directors in cinema. His best known films include The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), Vampyr (1932), Day of Wrath (1943), Ordet (1955), and Gertrud (1964).

Imagine that we are sitting in an ordinary room. Suddenly we are told that there is a corpse behind the door. In an instant the room we are sitting in is completely altered; everything in it has taken on another look; the light, the atmosphere have changed, though they are physically the same. This is because we have changed and the objects are as we conceive them. That is the effect I want to get in my film.

Carl Theodor Dreyer
- Film
- Look
- Changed
Nothing in the world can be compared to the human face.

Carl Theodor Dreyer
- Human
- Face
- Compared

You can't simplify reality without understanding it first.

Carl Theodor Dreyer
Nothing in the world can be compared to the human face. It is a land one can never tire of exploring. There is no greater experience in a studio than to witness the expression of a sensitive face under the mysterious power of inspiration. To see it animated from inside, and turning into poetry.

Carl Theodor Dreyer