BAM is in the midst of a retrospective of the films of Carl Theodor Dreyer, the Danish master whose career as a director ran from 1919 to 1964. His last film, “Gertrud,” may well be his greatest; it will play there Thursday, March 26th (I’ve got a capsule review of it in the magazine this week), and is also available on DVD in a superb boxed set from Criterion. Because of Dreyer’s amazingly controlled images and restrained performances, he’s often mistaken for a “transcendental” director (famously, in a book by Paul Schrader). In fact, the red thread running through his career is rage at repressive morality and the unjust authority that enforces it. In “Gertrud,” the title character pays heavily for her erotic freedom—and her other-worldly grace is scant compensation. I talk about it in this clip.
Goings On
What we’re watching, listening to, and doing this week, online, in N.Y.C., and beyond. Paid subscribers also receive book picks.
Dept. of Medicine
How to Die in Good Health
The average American celebrates just one healthy birthday after the age of sixty-five. Peter Attia argues that it doesn’t have to be this way.
By Dhruv Khullar
Infinite Scroll
The Internet’s New Favorite Philosopher
Byung-Chul Han, in treatises such as “The Burnout Society” and his latest, “The Crisis of Narration,” diagnoses the frenetic aimlessness of the digital age.
By Kyle Chayka
Daily Comment
The Supreme Court Asks What Enron Has to Do with January 6th—and Trump
The former President notwithstanding, the government’s position in Fischer v. United States is unsettling.
By Amy Davidson Sorkin
Elements
The Highest Tree House in the Amazon
In 2023, conservationists and carpenters converged on Peru to build luxury accommodations in the rain-forest canopy.
By Allison Keeley