'Leaves from Satan’s Book' is divided into four episodes set in four different historical eras. In each episode we follow Satan, who has been cursed by God and is doomed to tempt man. He will be redeemed only if he is resisted. In episode 1, Satan in the guise of a Pharisee tempts Judas to betray Jesus. In episode 2, set in 16th-century Spain, Satan is a grand inquisitor who compels a monk, Don Fernandez, to commit a heinous rape. Episode 3 takes place during the French Revolution: Satan is now a Jacobin leader who convinces young Joseph to betray his noble master and thwart a plan that could have saved Queen Marie Antoinette from death at the guillotine. In episode 4, Satan is a former monk who leads a gang of Red Guards during the Finnish civil war in 1918.
The film was directed by Carl Th. Dreyer – the most important director in Danish cinema. Internationally, Dreyer ranks among the greatest artists ever to work in the medium of film.
With 'Leaves from Satan's Book', his second feature, Dreyer "got the chance to make a film on a really big scale, even if Nordisk gave him nowhere near the kind of budget he was asking for. Though the screenplay lacks balance – weighed down by the complicated French episode – this grandly conceived film remains impressive, with its searching close-ups, severely unembellished decorations, tight editing and delicately centred compositions. (...) Reviewers of the day, as well as later writers, compared the film to D.W. Griffith’s Intolerance (1916, Danish premiere 1918), which similarly depicts evil’s hold on man in four historical episodes. Even so, Edgard Høyer’s original screenplay for Dreyer’s film dates to 1913. Most likely, both films were inspired by Satanas (dir. Luigi Maggi), an Italian film from 1912." (Source: Casper Tybjerg on www.carlthdreyer.dk)
The film has Danish intertitles with English subtitles, and the musical score is composed and performed by Ronen Thalmay.
The film was directed by Carl Th. Dreyer – the most important director in Danish cinema. Internationally, Dreyer ranks among the greatest artists ever to work in the medium of film.
With 'Leaves from Satan's Book', his second feature, Dreyer "got the chance to make a film on a really big scale, even if Nordisk gave him nowhere near the kind of budget he was asking for. Though the screenplay lacks balance – weighed down by the complicated French episode – this grandly conceived film remains impressive, with its searching close-ups, severely unembellished decorations, tight editing and delicately centred compositions. (...) Reviewers of the day, as well as later writers, compared the film to D.W. Griffith’s Intolerance (1916, Danish premiere 1918), which similarly depicts evil’s hold on man in four historical episodes. Even so, Edgard Høyer’s original screenplay for Dreyer’s film dates to 1913. Most likely, both films were inspired by Satanas (dir. Luigi Maggi), an Italian film from 1912." (Source: Casper Tybjerg on www.carlthdreyer.dk)
The film has Danish intertitles with English subtitles, and the musical score is composed and performed by Ronen Thalmay.
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