Lars von Trier has never made it a secret that he has always been greatly fascinated and inspired by the old master. Carl Theodor Dreyer's style can even be traced right down to individual shots in some of Trier's early films.
In "From Dreyer to von Trier", a new article published on the Danish Film Institute's Dreyer website, associate professor Peter Schepelern juxtaposes the two filmmakers and points to their spiritual, artistic and personal kinship. But von Trier is also very much himself, writes Schepelern:
"In Dreyer, women are burned at the stake, in 'Jeanne d'Arc' and 'Day of Wrath', because of martyrdom and oppression. When von Trier has a woman put to death by burning in 'Antichrist', it is presented as a necessary act of self-defence by a suffering man."
Read more about miracles, phobias and family entanglements in From Dreyer to von Trier.