Heiners Filmseiten – Ditte, Child of Man (en)

Ditte, Child of Man (Ditte menneskebarn)

German title: Ditte – Ein Menschenkind
Francaise title: La fille de l’homme
Spain title: Ditte, hija del hombre
Russian title: Дитте – дитя человеческое
Original title: Ditte menneskebarn

Alternative titles:
Ditte Menschenkind | Child of Man | La vie malheureuse d’un enfant

Drama – Denmark
Production year: 1946
Movie length: 104 minutes

Director: Bjarne Henning-Jensen, Astrid Henning-Jensen
Writer: Bjarne Henning-Jensen, Martin Andersen Nexø
Cinematograph: Verner Jensen, Ove Sevel
Music: Herman D. Koppel

Movie description:

This film follows a girl from roughly five to sixteen years of age. Orphaned during childbirth, our heroine lives with her grandmother until the woman is no longer physically capable of caring for her. Things then take a turn for the worse, the lass now residing in a home where she cares for three children, approximately three to ten years old, and has to deal with the wrath of their nasty mother.

Ditte, born illegitimately, is deserted as a young girl by her alcoholic mother Sørine. She moves in with her grandparents Maren and Søren Mand. But after Søren dies, it is Ditte who becomes the old woman’s only support. It is the small girl’s deepest sorrow that she has no father, so she is pleased when she hears that Lars Peter will marry her mother and they will all live together. However, it is Ditte who becomes like a mother to Lars Peter’s three small children. Their poverty is so oppressive, it drives Ditte’s mother to kill Maren, and Sørine is sent away to prison. Ditte, despite her young age, must assume all of the household’s responsibilities. As time passes, a warm relationship develops between Ditte and Lars Peter. One day, Lars Peter’s brother Johannes appears. Johannes is a poor knife and scissors sharpener who informs them of his big business schemes, however, his schemes bring nothing but disappointment. Lars moves away and Ditte must find herself a job. Ditte takes a job as a servant on a rural farm. The farm owner’s weak-willed son Karl, who is completely controlled by his mother, falls in love with Ditte and they develop a happy romance. However, when Ditte becomes pregnant, Karl does nothing while his mother forces Ditte to leave the farm. Deeply distraught, Ditte searches after Lars Peter, the only parental figure who ever showed her kindness and understanding. Ditte discovers her mother has been paroled from prison and Ditte begins a new life – forgiving and caring for her mother – at the same time that she becomes the mother of her own illegitimate child.

Boy Actors