Asta Nielsen was an ethereally beautiful silent-film actress who made only one sound film, then went into a long Garbo-like retirement. There are some strong parallels between Nielsen and Garbo, including some roles they both played (notably Mata Hari). It's intriguing that Nielsen and Sarah Bernhardt both played the (male) title role in 'Hamlet'. Bernhardt played the role as a man when she was too old to play Ophelia; whilst Nielsen (astonishingly beautiful in male costume) played the role as a young woman who had been raised as a male. Most of Nielsen's career was in German films; 'Afgrunden' is one of only four films she made in her native Denmark.
I viewed a print of 'Afgrunden' that was digitally restored by the Danish Film Institute but had many individual frames missing, resulting in bizarre jump cuts when characters who were about to step out of frame simply vanished. There is one intentional jump cut when Asta Nielsen flings a lasso at Poul Reumert: the jump cut enables the noose to encircle his neck even though Nielsen missed.
Nielsen plays Magda Varig (not Vang), a mousy piano-teacher who is engaged to a respectable businessman, until she visits Cirkus Fortuna and is intrigued by a macho performer whose handbill identifies him as Mr Rudolph (Reumert). Magda kicks off her past life and joins the circus. From there, it's a maelstrom of depravity.
The very beautiful Nielsen is tightly corseted throughout this film, except for one astonishing scene in which she ties up Reumert with his own lasso, then she performs a deeply erotic dance all round him, shaking and shimmying her very definitely corset-free midriff. This scene was cut out of British and American prints of the film. However, Nielsen's dance consists largely of rubbing her buttocks against Reumert, rather than her front-side; perhaps in 1910 even the Danish weren't ready for THAT degree of eroticism! In an earlier scene, Nielsen is wearing corset-stays and all the usual female garments of 1910 (floor-length skirt, petticoats, the lot) when Reumert hauls her aboard his horse and gallops away: it occurred to me that this must have been a very uncomfortable situation for a woman in all those clothes.
There are some beautiful exterior shots here, and one splendid sequence aboard a double-decker tram in Copenhagen. A postman and a vicar wear (respectively) a uniform and vestments which are so elaborate that modern audiences might laugh. More fatally, all through 'Afgrunden' the entire cast (including Nielsen) overact with hand-to-brow theatrics. One character is stabbed in the chest; instead of just dying, he has to do a melodramatic "I'm dying!" gesture and THEN die.
SPOILERS COMING. This is one of those misogynist films which assert that nothing is more dangerous than a woman's sexuality. Having discovered her sensual side, the former piano-teacher Magda is now poison for every man she meets. The film ends with Magda going to prison, presumably to remain there until she's no longer a danger to society (i.e., when she's menopausal).
I viewed a DFI print with Danish titles, at a screening in London. Unfortunately, the very last title card in the print reads "SLUT" ... which is Danish for "Finish" (or maybe Finnish for "Danish"), but which the London audience (probably knowing better) chose to misinterpret, and to receive with mocking laughter. A shame, really: Nielsen's role here anticipates the 'vampire' roles of Theda Bara and Pola Negri, so I wish that 'Afgrunden' could have celebrated female sexuality more honestly and positively. My rating: 7 out of 10.
I viewed a print of 'Afgrunden' that was digitally restored by the Danish Film Institute but had many individual frames missing, resulting in bizarre jump cuts when characters who were about to step out of frame simply vanished. There is one intentional jump cut when Asta Nielsen flings a lasso at Poul Reumert: the jump cut enables the noose to encircle his neck even though Nielsen missed.
Nielsen plays Magda Varig (not Vang), a mousy piano-teacher who is engaged to a respectable businessman, until she visits Cirkus Fortuna and is intrigued by a macho performer whose handbill identifies him as Mr Rudolph (Reumert). Magda kicks off her past life and joins the circus. From there, it's a maelstrom of depravity.
The very beautiful Nielsen is tightly corseted throughout this film, except for one astonishing scene in which she ties up Reumert with his own lasso, then she performs a deeply erotic dance all round him, shaking and shimmying her very definitely corset-free midriff. This scene was cut out of British and American prints of the film. However, Nielsen's dance consists largely of rubbing her buttocks against Reumert, rather than her front-side; perhaps in 1910 even the Danish weren't ready for THAT degree of eroticism! In an earlier scene, Nielsen is wearing corset-stays and all the usual female garments of 1910 (floor-length skirt, petticoats, the lot) when Reumert hauls her aboard his horse and gallops away: it occurred to me that this must have been a very uncomfortable situation for a woman in all those clothes.
There are some beautiful exterior shots here, and one splendid sequence aboard a double-decker tram in Copenhagen. A postman and a vicar wear (respectively) a uniform and vestments which are so elaborate that modern audiences might laugh. More fatally, all through 'Afgrunden' the entire cast (including Nielsen) overact with hand-to-brow theatrics. One character is stabbed in the chest; instead of just dying, he has to do a melodramatic "I'm dying!" gesture and THEN die.
SPOILERS COMING. This is one of those misogynist films which assert that nothing is more dangerous than a woman's sexuality. Having discovered her sensual side, the former piano-teacher Magda is now poison for every man she meets. The film ends with Magda going to prison, presumably to remain there until she's no longer a danger to society (i.e., when she's menopausal).
I viewed a DFI print with Danish titles, at a screening in London. Unfortunately, the very last title card in the print reads "SLUT" ... which is Danish for "Finish" (or maybe Finnish for "Danish"), but which the London audience (probably knowing better) chose to misinterpret, and to receive with mocking laughter. A shame, really: Nielsen's role here anticipates the 'vampire' roles of Theda Bara and Pola Negri, so I wish that 'Afgrunden' could have celebrated female sexuality more honestly and positively. My rating: 7 out of 10.