Best Carl Theodor Dreyer Films, Ranked by IQ Score

Carl Theodor Dreyer's filmography is widely cited as one of the medium's most-canonical bodies of work. The catalog spans from The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) — one of the most-cited single films in film criticism — through Ordet (1955) and the late-career experimental work. The structural commitment to formal discipline (deliberate cinematography, refusal of conventional editing, theological-philosophical material) defines the catalog.

Anchor picks: The Passion of Joan of Arc is the canonical entry — Renée Jeanne Falconetti's silent-cinema performance and Dreyer's close-up cinematography render the film's entire dramatic material. Ordet is the catalog's most-direct sacred-cinema work. Day of Wrath (1943) is the catalog's most-historically-specific work.