For my birthday this year I decided to embark on a new movie watching challenge (similar to ones I’ve done before here and here). This year’s challenge is to do four streams of films, and watch one of each stream in each month. On top of that, we’ll have six “wild card” slots through out the year, to bring it up to 54th movies for my 54th year (I lately turned 53). You can read more about the plan here. This is post #18.
Spoilers Ahead
The Passion of Joan of Arc [La passion de Jeanne d’Arc] (1928)
Directed by: Carl Theodor Dreyer
Viewing Stream: Silent Movies
Look up any list of “great silent films” and you find The Passion of Joan of Arc. I’m also a bit familiar with Carl Dreyer from another film that I watched doing my film degree that was from decades after this one (Ordet). So I thought it was time to check this out.
What it is about: Controversial military leader Joan of Arc is put on trial by religious leaders for her claims to be operating under divine guidance, as well as her political loyalties and breaking of gender conventions. Though Joan momentarily wavers, she ultimately insists that God has spoken to her, and is executed as a result.
Starring Renée Jeanne Falconetti as the title character. There are a whole bunch of people playing a variety of priests and religious figures who question Joan, but none of them are very distinct from the others. Antonin Artaud plays the priest who delivers to Joan her final communion.
My Thoughts: Going into The Passion of Joan of Arc, I guess I expected a war movie, but that’s a far cry from what I got. Well, there is a little bit of war there, because after Joan is executed, there is a brief uprising from some angry peasants, and the last few minutes of the movie is devoted to this outbreak of violence, which is quickly put down by the better armed and better trained soldiers that they direct their anger toward. But for most of the film, what we are watching is basically a courtroom drama, albeit one set amongst a group of 15th century clerics.
The story is apparently based pretty closely on the actual transcripts of the real Joan’s trial, although it depicts events which took place over 18 months as happening in a single day. During this time, the priests try all sorts of strategies and tricks to get Joan to renounce her declaration that God has spoken to her to fight to drive the English out of her home of France.
They tease her with the opportunity to take communion (apparently very precious to Joan, in her religious devotion), they forge a letter from the king that she supports, and they threaten her with torture. None of this moves her–Joan is absolutely convinced that God has called her, and she quite humbly holds to this conviction.
Only when she is threatened to be executed does she finally give in and allow herself to be led to sign of a renunciation of her beliefs–but this weakness is only temporary. She calls the judges back in and reaffirms her faith, getting herself condemned in the process. She declares that her martyrdom is the fulfilment of God’s promises of freedom to her, and willingly allows herself to be burnt at the stake (she is even seen helping her executioner bind her arms).
It’s a pretty powerful tale of spiritual devotion, which is told in quite a striking way. The movie is overwhelmingly made up of close-ups (I’d hazard a guess that they make up 80%-90% of the film), who are mostly filmed in stark lighting, with no make-up to hide away the crags and crevices in a the array of priests and soldiers who are interrogating and guarding their prisoner.
In contrast there’s Joan herself, played in one of the most memorable silent performances that I have ever seen by Renée Jeanne Falconetti. She’s depicted in softer lighting, but her presence in the film is an avalanche of intensity–a non-stop flow of wide-eyes, burning expressions, and religiously-enraptured body language. This is a woman absolutely devoted to her beliefs, which is clear not just from the story but also from the direction and Falconetti’s performance.
The movie’s editing is also interesting. It’s fast-paced and rapid in the way it cuts between Joan and her interrogators, with some angrily shouting out questions or accusations, and others looking furtively about as the scene unfolds. Only some of their dialogue gets the benefit of being titled, but still the impression of a room full of chaos and hubbub is made beautifully clear. In these ways, the movie is a crowning achievement of early cinematic storytelling.
On the downside, The Passion of Joan of Arc does take some patience to get through, and its style eventually becomes a bit repetitive. There is a bunch of story context that is not clear from just viewing the film which left me a little uncertain. II didn’t understand until I had read some background material on the movie, for instance, that the priests that are conducting Joan’s trial are specifically opposed to the French king and in favor of an alliance with England.
But in the face of the movie’s overwhelming strengths and historical significance, these are pretty manageable problems.
Check out the Masterlist here.
Blue Towel Productions 
Thank you for this review. It’s interesting to learn about and understand the earliest films based on Joan of Arc after the recent impacts of Milla Jovovich and Leelee Sobieski in the role.