Emil Hass Christensen brings kindness to doctors, officers and patriarchs, though his correct manner can look stiff. We value him most in Ordet, where Dreyer gives us time to notice the troubled man behind the formal speech.
Fi1m perspective
In Ordet (1955), Emil Hass Christensen gives us a face to watch while the family talks about faith. As Mikkel Borgen, the pragmatic eldest son, he makes no attempt to turn the discussions into easy conversation. Carl Theodor Dreyer lets them proceed slowly, asking us to keep looking even when the language feels forbidding. Christensen is worth that attention, though anyone expecting relaxed, naturalistic acting has an awkward start ahead.
His early sound-film work largely meant small supporting parts as correct, authoritative men. A larger role came in Ebberød Bank (1943), playing Andreas, a wealthy returning brother. Lawyers, doctors, officers and estate owners became familiar territory, but there was kindness in his manner as well as authority. Even in comedy, he rarely reduced these figures to caricatures. He could play someone accustomed to being obeyed without making him unpleasant company.
Ordet gives that formality a demanding use. Henrik Malberg as Morten Borgen and Preben Lerdorff Rye as Johannes Borgen give the discussions different kinds of urgency; Christensen makes Mikkel a farmer worn by life and troubled by faith. His farmer's practicality matters here: it keeps the discussion attached to a person whose uncertainty we can understand. We found Ordet deeply moving once we began watching the faces for responses the speeches could not supply.
The limitation is stiffness, and there are times when we want a less guarded response. Even in Ordet, the speeches can wear us down; the performances do not remove that difficulty. The dignified, bankrupt estate owner in Sønnen fra Amerika (1957) belongs to his familiar casting; Danish comedies and authority roles remained his territory through the 1960s and 1970s. Begin with Ordet, where Dreyer's patience gives Christensen the time to make that reserve worth watching.
Biography
Emil Hass Christensen, also credited as Hass Christensen, was a Danish film actor. He appeared in around 60 films between 1925 and 1978.
He is best known for his leading role as Mikkel Borgen in Carl Theodor Dreyer's Ordet (1955), for which he received the Bodil Award for Best Actor. Christensen also appeared in The Olsen Gang Goes to War (1978) as the prison warden and in numerous other Danish productions, frequently portraying authority figures such as lawyers, doctors and officials.
