"The Passion of Joan of Arc"

[littlemissattitude]

I originally posted this over on my blog. Encouraged by Foxbat, I decided to go ahead and post it over here as well...because I really want to share this wonderful film. And so...

...a rare treat last Sunday night.

I love silent films. They intrigue me. The idea of telling a story with only pictures and a few captions is amazing, a difficult thing to even try, much less to pull off. Most folks can't do it even using speech and sound effects and a musical score. Anyway, there has been one silent film I have been wanting to see ever since I was about twelve years old, when I first read about it. But, it seemed, there weren't any complete prints around, and nobody was showing even the cobbled-together editions that had survived. But miracles do happen, and a virtually complete print was found - in a closet, in a mental hospital somewhere in Europe, in about 1985 or so. A restoration job was done, and Turner Classic Movies showed the result on Sunday night.

The film is "The Passion of Joan of Arc". I was almost afraid to watch it, for fear of being disappointed. All those years of expectation; surely it couldn't live up to it's legend. Yet it did, and more. The film is magnificent, stark in its use of close-ups, actors without any make-up at all (unheard of in the silent era), and sets so minimalist that it sometimes seems that they don't exist at all. Carl Theodor Dreyer threw out all the rules, and came up with the perfect retelling of Joan's trial and execution. It helped that he used the actual transcript of her trial, still extant all these hundreds of years later, to write the script of his film.

The most unique aspect of the film, I think, is that Dreyer made use of tight facial close-ups almost exclusively - I'd say close to 90 per cent of the shots, especially during Joan's trial, are close-ups of either Joan's face or her accusers. And these are eloquent, expressive faces. Faces with character, not just pretty faces, as you'd find in most films these days. The most eloquent face of all is Joan's. She is portrayed by Maria Falconetti, a woman who was handsome but not, I think, a classic beauty. She manages to express more with her eyes, her mouth, even the flare of a nostril, than most actors can manage with their entire being. True, some of her expressions might be read by some modern viewers as exaggerated, but if you've seen many other silent films, you'll know that the vast majority of her performance is the very model of restraint. A stage actress, this was Falconetti's only film performance. That's too bad.

Near the end of the film, there are more wide shots, as Joan is burned at the stake and the peasants revolt in reaction to one soldier's declaration as she dies that "We have burned a saint today." These shots work just as well as the close-ups, as they communicate the brutality of the times. One of the most interesting things that Dreyer did was, both in this final sequence and in the earlier, more intimate scenes, his use of odd camera angles - from above Joan's head, shooting her inquisitors from below and Joan answering their questions from a high angle, scenes with the camera seemingly being held upside down. These were not common things to do in 1928, when "'The Passion of Joan of Arc" was made. Dreyer was breaking the rules, or making up new ones as he went along, and it worked.

If you ever get a chance, see this film.

It occurred to me as I watched the film, by the way, to wonder if the directors of R.E.M.'s video "Losing My Religion" and Nine Inch Nails' video "Closer" had seen "The Passion of Joan of Arc" and taken cues from it. I have no reason to think they did. On the other hand, there were shots in the film that strongly reminded me of these videos.

Oh, and one more thing. Dreyer also made another film well worth looking for, "Vampyr", in 1932. Some of the effects in the film are quite astonishing, all the more because they were accomplished when they were. But if you do watch it, I wouldn't recommend watching it alone, at night. It's really spooky.

[Foxbat]

I don't know anything about Dreyer but he sounds as if he was quite innovative in his day.
Anyway, I've got my copy of Joan of Arc winging its way across the Atlantic as we speak. I'm looking forward to this one.

PS Littlemiss, if you like silent films you should really check out oldies.com
they do some wonderful 4 film boxed sets at the ridiculously low price of $19.99 - this place is my main source of old films.

[Foxbat]

Time for a second opinion.
The DVD gave me a choice on the menu screen of watching with or without the newly added soundtrack. I decided to go with the music.

Voices Of Light by Richard Einhorn – a beautiful and evocative choral and orchestral work which complimented this film perfectly.
I was absolutely amazed at the quality of the print given this film’s traumatic history.

The many close-ups used, whilst detailing the trial of Joan, revealed a stunning resolution considering this was made in 1928. Every line on the face, every mole, eyebrow, tear and whisker were easily visible. Quite frankly, I think black and white is perfect for this kind of work. Colour would have lost some of the impact of Joan’s torment and the gnarled and twisted features of her accusers.

The actual composition, settings and framing and acting quality would have many modern directors justifiably proud of the finished result. Being made so long ago only accentuates the craftsmanship and artistry that went into this film.

I got the impression at the end that, if we had raked through the ash and embers of the fire, we would have found a pillar of unshakeable faith – which entombed the heart of a frightened girl. Such is the paradox of Joan.

This film moved me – it’s as simple as that. And if the world had never rediscovered this masterpiece – we would be living in a place diminished by its passing.

[Sathai]

I watched this a couple of nights ago. I thought it was a beautiful and emotional movie. The only slightly negative was that there were too many closeups.

The music impressed me the most though, immediately after watching it I had to order the Voices of Light CD.

[j. d. worthington]

It is indeed a very remarkable film -- but then, most of Dreyer's work is. About 2-1/2 years ago, TCM put on several of his films -- The Passion of Joan of Arc, Vampyr, Day of Wrath, Michael, Gertrud, Leaves from Satan's Book, and a few others (he didn't actually make many films; he was a slow, painstaking director) -- and, while the pacing is incredibly slow by our standards, they are invariably fascinating films: thoughtful, beautifully shot, insightful studies of emotion through almost ridiculously restrained performances and studies of the character's faces. I highly recommend his films to anyone who loves film and who is looking for something with a depth unheard of in 99% of today's cinema.

Incidentally... I'd add that there are a lot of silent films that achieve things that today's films just don't, with all their flash and bang... because (to quote from Sunset Blvd.) they "had faces then"... and they used them. Yes, there were sometimes exaggerated expressions... but much less than most of us have been trained to believe was the case. Try watching some of Lon Chaney's films -- more often than not, his facial expressions are not only no more exaggerated than today's actors', but frequently less. I'd suggest looking at Shadows, HE Who Gets Slapped or Laugh, Clown, Laugh (both variants on Pagliacci), West of Zanzibar, Mr. Wu, The Penalty, The Unholy Three... just for starters.

As for the Passion: It is an excellent choice for those who wish to see what silent film could do, along with Abel Gance's Napoleon (which really should be seen the way it was intended, with the extra-wide screen or 3-screen projection, to get the full impact of this amazing film; or King Vidor's The Crowd, or Victor Sjöström's The Wind, or some of the amazing films directed by Chaplin and Keaton... all innovators cinematically, and just a few among many, who show that the camera was anything but static with silent film... in fact, there is very little (though not none) we've actually done to advance the grammar of cinematography since ... and Dreyer and his Passion of Joan of Arc is one of the true landmarks of the form, and remains a powerful film to this day....

[digs]

This sounds really cool. Being a convincing actor (or even director) without being able to be heard must be incredibly challenging...