Genre:
Drama
Release Date: 12/14/2004
Dubbed: English
Run Time: 86 Minutes
Distributor/Studio: Kino
Filmed in 1924 by the brilliant Danish director
Carl Theodore Dreyer, the German drama
Michael (
Mikael) was released in the U.S. three years later under the more lurid title
Chained. It was subsequently reissued as
The Story of the Third Sex, an unsubtle allusion to the plotline's homosexual subtext. Fellow director
Benjamin Christensen stars as "The Master," a world-renowned painter. Celebrated for his portrait of a "beautiful" young male art student named Mikael (played by a slim, 22-year-old
Walter Slezak), the Master graciously accepts the plaudits of his acolytes. Inwardly, however, he is tormented by his strong, passionate feelings for Mikael. Ironically, both men have a falling out over the affections of a woman (
Nora Gregor) -- and when The Master dies, Mikael is accused of his murder. It turns out that the old artist actually died of natural causes, but Mikael is condemned in the court of public opinion for turning his back on The Master during his last days on Earth. Astonishingly,
Chained was dismissed as "junk" by the reviewer for the trade magazine
Variety, who felt that the film would have been better if Michael had murdered The Master in actuality rather than symbolically.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Cart 0 items
