All this you tend to take for granted with Scandi-silents,
but this was the first Norwegian film to be made by entirely by Norwegians and
not led by Swedes, Danes or Germans. It was also, wiki-parently, the first film
to feature professional actors, in this case led by the formidably expressive
Aasta Nielsen - a 23-year old theatre actor and not the Danish Asta (an extra
“a”) already established as Europe’s leading lady.
Directed by Rasmus Breistein, Fante-Anne (Gypsy Anne)
was based on the 1868 novel by Kristofer Janson and, like so many films of the
North, attempts to recreate the rural past as accurately as possible with
milk-maids, grizzly farm hands and romantic dramas set to rural rhythms.
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| Norway's Aasta Nielsen |
It’s also a film with a message and in which the
outsider, the un-belonging gypsy, has to fight for her rightful place in a society
constricted by tradition and prejudice. There are similar narratives throughout
the films of this period from Europe to the USA addressing class as well as
race: given the view of gypsies even now, integration in straight society would
be as unlikely as say marriage between the leads in Broken Blossoms or The Red
Lantern. The times, they were, very slowly, a-changing and, as usual,
liberal artistes were leading the way.
Anyway… what we have here is a gently gripping story of a
love triangle that succeeds in the improbable task of confounding expectations
in ways that reinforce the morality of the tale. It’s a little slow perhaps but
so absorbing especially here with the new orchestral score from Haldor Krogh as
played by the Norwegian Radio Orchestra which looms over the action like the
peaks on either side of the valley in which the Storlein family farm is based.
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| Elsa Vang in a tree |
Here a young orphaned girl Anne (Elsa Vang) is taken in
and grows up like a sister to Haldor Storlein (Olaf Solberg) with farm hand Jon
Sandbakken (Einar Tveito) like the father she never had. The two children play,
and we see Anne quickness of thought and playfulness, Haldor the slower of the
two and often the butt of her pranks and the one who gets caught when her
mischiefs gets spotted.
The years pass and Haldor is now played by Lars Tvinde
and Anne by Aasta Nielsen; the two youngsters are still very close and, more
than that are united by un-fraternal affection which causes the young man’s
mother (Johanne Bruhn) some anxiety: the girl is not from here and of unknown
origin, she cannot marry her son.
Meanwhile Jon’s affection is far from paternal and he surprises
Anna by asking her to marry him… Anne smiles it off, she loves Haldor and just
doesn’t think of the poor Jon as anything other than the surrogate he’s always
been to her.
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| Einar Tveito |
We know this story, we think, and surely the young lovers
will follow their hearts to break with the requirements of the rural social
order? Haldor’s mother has other ideas and pushes her son to abandon his ideas
and court more worthy women whose lineage is without question. Sure enough,
after a month of not seeing Haldor as she works as a milk maid up in the hills,
Anne discovers he has been seeing a wealthy farm girl, Margit Moen (Kristine
Ullmo) and they are going to be wed.
This naturally pushes all of the wrong buttons for Anne,
betrayed and humiliated by her life-long friend. Jon warns Haldor of what she
might do but the young dunderhead has underestimated his old friend just as he
always did when they were younger. Anne takes things to another level, torching
the new house he has been building and as the magistrate investigates, surely
there’s a high price to pay for this impulsiveness…
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| Anne and Haldor share a joke |
But the true heart of the story is only just starting to
be revealed and I won’t spoil it.
Cinematographer Gunnar Nilsen-Vig deserves credit for some stunning composition, a
world of crystal clear close ups and magnificent vistas, the farmers often dwarfed by
their hugely impressive surroundings. The Scandinavian films of this period had
almost every other country beat in terms of the natural backdrops and they were
also favoured by the light for at least part of the year. In North America
you’d have to be Nell Shipman to find this kind of rugged beauty and very few
had followed her example by this stage.
Aasta Nielsen is superb, amongst a very naturalistic cast
and she looks very much at home with farm duties as well as the drama. Einar
Tveito, who will later feature in Dreyer’s The Bride of Glomdal and many more,
is also good as the love-lorn Jon who has the most complex story arc of all –
the transition from “uncle” to suitor is not an easy one after all.
Fante-Anne is a
“bunad” film – one that looks back to the rural tradition – but unlike most
other films, it doesn’t over romanticise the period and obviously highlights
the inequalities that came with it. Too often the past and costume dramas are
an escape for audiences but not here, it looks nice yes, but it is not a fair
society.
The Fante-Anne dual
format is available through Amazon or direct from the Norwegian Film Institute
– well worth your time, I mean, just look at the view.
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