Gertrud

Gertrud Nina Pens Rode is a former opera singer living in Stockholm in the early 20th century, married to the lawyer and politician Gustav Kanning Bendt Rothe. She openly tells him that he has grown more in love with his career and status than with her, and that she has found a man who loves her more than anyone else. She reveals that she intends to divorce and start anew. In the same breath, she introduces the man who has captured her heart, the young pianist Erland Jansson Baard Owe, whose devotion she says surpasses anything she has known.

In a park, Gertrud and Jansson deepen their bond, and she declares an unwavering commitment to him. Later, Gustav goes to collect his wife after she had promised to be at the opera, only to discover she is missing. The Kannings attend a dinner that same evening hosted by the poet Gabriel Lidman Ebbe Rode, whose own past with Gertrud hints at a complicated web of loyalties. Gertrud greets a friend at the gathering, Axel Nygren Axel Strøbye, and the tensions around love, art, and ambition begin to twist the evening.

Gabriel Lidman reveals a revealing detail: he had heard Jansson boast at a party about Gertrud as his latest conquest, a reminder that Gertrud’s passion has drawn scrutiny from multiple sides. When Gertrud and Jansson meet again the next day, she confesses that she wishes to run away with him and leave everything else behind. Yet Jansson confesses that he cannot, because he is expecting a child with another woman. Lidman, who once valued his own career over love, tries to persuade Gertrud to leave with him instead, offering a vision of a life beyond compromise.

Gustav makes one final, measured attempt to persuade Gertrud to stay with him, even suggesting she could keep her lover as part of the arrangement. But this plan fails, and Gertrud chooses independence over convenience, moving alone to Paris to study psychology and search for meaning on her own terms.

Three decades pass, and Gertrud, now joined by Nygren, reflects on the arc of her life. She articulates a singular belief: love is the only thing that truly matters in life. Though she is left alone by circumstance and choice, she does not express regret for the path she chose, standing by a hard-won conviction that shaped her entire existence.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 11:02