Towards the Light
The last film that Nielsen ever made in Denmark is this captivating religious melodrama in which she plays a wealthy countess who strings along a series of suitors even though she’s fallen in love with a baron. When her thoughtless flirtations turn out to have dreadful consequences and she learns her lover’s terrible secret, can the countess redeem her wasteful life by turning to God?
Asta Nielsen
The only film Nielsen ever directed is this documentary self-portrait from 1968 in which the actress reflects on her life and magnificent career in conversation with the Danish actor Axel Strøbye. Watch as the celebrated tragedian poignantly sheds her final tear for the camera.
bfi.org.uk
Meeting Asta Nielsen in 1950
At a time when sex appeal was all that was wanted in the flickers, Asta Nielsen showed a bony figure and a long and unpretty face, but she broke all the rules of her day and also of her future when she became the world’s greatest star – by the sheer fascination of her art of acting: she introduced stylized acting into a hodgepodge of low naturalism and plain amateurishness. Purpose and form of her acting showed off the accidental nature of the crowd photographed as her partners. She was as masterful in tragedy as she was in comedy, and never was she conventional. Unfortunately she has not appeared in a picture that was great in itself, but all of them were carried by her unique personality and the unforgettable beauty of her gesturing.
Most of her pictures were made in Germany (notably a silent version of Hamlet and Pabst’s Joyless Street), but she refused to work under Nazi rule and returned in 1937 to her Danish fatherland, leaving behind her house and two-thirds of her money according to the Nazi rules of that time. She has not done a thing since her return to Copenhagen. Her funds running low, she asked the government for a licence to run a cinema. It has been refused to her several times. The reason: she is considered a ‘German actress’ because she became famous in pictures made in Germany.
This does not sound like a convincing or just reason, and Asta Nielsen’s bitterness is understandable. I saw her in her Copenhagen flat, a couple of blocks away from Carl Dreyer’s. It is full of large and beautiful antiques, but somehow cold and empty. And there is Asta herself: she still wears her world-renowned bangs, but her hair is not jet black any more. It is reddish by a hair-dyer’s favour. Face and figure have rounded themselves a bit, but there are still the large burning black eyes of hers, the expressive hands and their strange and beautiful gesturing, and the young, stormy temperament of the great artist. I admire the delicately shaped nose of hers, the pointed chin with the slight and joking pouch underneath. Asta Nielsen is older now, but she is quite unchanged in temper and in the way of her own and very personal beauty. She has only to begin to speak, and there is all of her and no day has passed.
But Asta Nielsen, who scarcely had an equal on the screen, is forgotten. For sixteen years, exactly as long as the day of Hitler’s seizure of power, she has not made a picture. The Danes have arbitrarily declared her a German and the Germans have kicked her out because she did not conform with Nazidom. A few years ago she wrote her memoirs – an important part of motion picture history. The book was published in Denmark and became a great success, because even the younger generation that had never seen her, had heard her fabulous name. No doubt, Asta Nielsen is able to-day to show new generations of audiences and players how motion picture acting can be as delicate and refined as the description of a sundown by a Chinese painter. She would still be not only the greatest actress, but also the greatest teacher.
John H. Winge, Sight and Sound, April 1950
TOWARDS THE LIGHT (MOD LYSET)
Director: Holger-Madsen
Production Company: Nordisk Films Kompagni
Screenplay: Holger-Madsen
Director of Photography: Sophus Wangøe
Cast
Asta Nielsen
Augusta Blad
Alf Blütecher
Frederik Jacobsen
Denmark 1919
62 mins
With thanks to: Karola Gramann - Kinothek Asta Nielsen
Live piano accompaniment by Neil Brand on Wed 23 Feb and Cyrus Gabrysch on Sun 27 Feb
ASTA NIELSEN
Director: Asta Nielsen
Production Company: Laterna Film
Screenplay: Asta Nielsen
Director of Photography: Peter Roos
Editor: Merete Neergaard
Composer: Morten Slæbo
Sound: Knud Kristensen
With
Asta Nielsen
Poul Reumert
Axel Strøbye
Denmark 1968
28 mins
IN THE EYES OF A SILENT STAR: THE FILMS OF ASTA NIELSEN
Towards the Light (Mod Lyset) + Asta Nielsen
Wed 23 Feb 18:10; Sun 27 Feb 15:50
In the Eyes of the Law (Nach dem Gesetz)
Tue 1 Mar 20:50; Mon 7 Mar 18:15
Hamlet
Wed 2 Mar 18:15; Sat 5 Mar 17:00 (+ Intro by Prof Judith Buchanan)
Earth Spirit (Erdgeist)
Sat 5 Mar 12:10 (+ intro by Season Curator Pamela Hutchinson); Wed 9 Mar 20:50
The Decline (AKA Downfall) (Der Absturz)
Sat 5 Mar 14:30 (+ intro by season curator Pamela Hutchinson); Tue 15 Mar 18:20
The Joyless Street (Die freudlose Gasse)
Sun 6 Mar 17:40 (+ intro by BFI Inclusion Team Coordinator, Miranda Gower-Qian); Wed 16 Mar 18:00
Impossible Love (Unmögliche Liebe)
Wed 9 Mar 18:20; Tue 15 Mar 20:45
Cultural partner
BFI SOUTHBANK
Welcome to the home of great film and TV, with three cinemas and a studio, a world-class library, regular exhibitions and a pioneering Mediatheque with 1000s of free titles for you to explore. Browse special-edition merchandise in the BFI Shop. We’re also pleased to offer you a unique new space, the BFI Riverfront – with unrivalled riverside views of Waterloo Bridge and beyond, a delicious seasonal menu, plus a stylish balcony bar for cocktails or special events. Come and enjoy a pre-cinema dinner or a drink on the balcony as the sun goes down.
BECOME A BFI MEMBER
Enjoy a great package of film benefits including priority booking at BFI Southbank and BFI Festivals. Join today at bfi.org.uk/join
BFI PLAYER
We are always open online on BFI Player where you can watch the best new, cult & classic cinema on demand. Showcasing hand-picked landmark British and independent titles, films are available to watch in three distinct ways: Subscription, Rentals & Free to view.
See something different today on player.bfi.org.uk
Join the BFI mailing list for regular programme updates. Not yet registered? Create a new account at www.bfi.org.uk/signup
Programme notes and credits compiled by the BFI Documentation Unit
Notes may be edited or abridged
Questions/comments? Contact the Programme Notes team by email