When Gertrud opened in Paris in 1964 it was panned, derided and ridiculed for its slow pace, near-paralyzed actors and stuffy look. Some things take time, and as the decades rolled by Dreyer's
Gertrude began to gather acclaim for its trail of references and allusions from an Annunciation by Da Vinci all the way back and forward. Schamus (arts, Columbia U.) takes a suitably
multidisciplinary approach and packs plenty of street credit as a collaborator with Ang Lee as he peels the film down to the core, concentrating on Dreyer's enthusiasm for written texts and
heroines who both embody and free themselves from them. The images are often startling, the themes are many-layered, and Schamus has created a printed sister to Gertrude that goes where even
Dreyer did not dare, even if it was Paris. Annotation 穢2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
