Danish Literature (1989)

• 53%
• 1989
• Documentary
• Jørgen Leth
• Inger Christensen
• Per Højholt
• Erik Knudsen

Jørgen Leth's personal, pleasurable distillation of Danish literature covers seven poets alive at the time of production and twenty classical poets. A handful of actors share readings of the classical texts in semi close ups against a dark background; the living poets read their own works. One untraditional choice is that the living poets are only heard, while the screen shows their silent portraits shot in their own settings. The visuals also consist of landscape paintings and portraits of the classical poets, filmic landscapes, and more specifically a series of pictures of Danish landscapes shot from a train window during "the golden hour". Herman D. Koppel composed a series of short pieces for the cello for the soundtrack.