Day of Wrath

In a Danish village of the early 1600s, a young woman named Anne bears the weight of a rumor that her mother was a witch. When Marte, an elderly neighbor, is accused, Anne finds herself drawn to her and unsettled by the town s fear. The story centers on Anne s bond with her gentle husband, Pastor Absalon, who once helped Marte's mother escape danger but now faces pressure from his stern mother to keep his distance. Absalon refuses to intervene on Marte s behalf. Complicating matters, Absalon s son returns home and is attracted to Anne, turning private desires into public risk. The clash of superstition, faith, and human sympathy tightens around everyone involved.

Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer, Day of Wrath arrived in 1943 as an original screenplay by Dreyer with collaborators Mogens Skot-Hansen and Paul La Cour, marking a sharp wartime drama from Denmark.

Critical responses highlighted the film s spare composition and moral clarity. It examines power structures inside a religious community, the cost of complicity, and the way fear can bend justice, giving Anne a quiet but stubborn resilience.

Day of Wrath is remembered as a cornerstone of Dreyer s career for its stark black and white imagery and restrained storytelling. Its influence extends through European art cinema and has spurred feminist readings of witchcraft and gendered oppression.