The Passion of Joan of Arc
The Passion of Joan of Arc | |
---|---|
La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc | |
Directed by | Carl Theodor Dreyer |
Written by | Joseph Delteil Carl Theodor Dreyer |
Starring | Renée Jeanne Falconetti Eugène Silvain André Berley Maurice Schutz |
Cinematography | Rudolph Maté |
Edited by | Marguerite Beaugé Carl Theodor Dreyer |
Music by | Léo Pouget Victor Alix |
Distributed by | Société Générale des Films |
Release dates |
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Running time | 110 minutes (20 fps) 82 minutes (24 fps) |
Country | France |
Language | French (intertitles) |
The Passion of Joan of Arc (French: La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc) is a 1928 French
Danish director Dreyer was invited to make a film in France by the Société Générale des Films and chose to make a film about Joan of Arc due to her renewed popularity in France. Dreyer spent over a year researching Joan of Arc and the transcripts of her trial before writing the script. Dreyer cast stage actress Falconetti as Joan in her only major film role. Falconetti's performance and devotion to the role during filming have become legendary among film scholars.
The film was shot on one huge concrete set modeled on medieval architecture in order to realistically portray the Rouen prison. The film is known for its cinematography and use of close-ups. Dreyer did not allow the actors to wear make-up and used lighting designs that made the actors look more grotesque. Prior to its release, the film was controversial due to
Despite the objections and cutting of the film by clerical and government authorities, it was a major critical success when first released and has consistently been considered one of the
The film entered the public domain in the United States in 2024.[4]
Plot
After having led the French in numerous battles against the English during the
by French clergymen loyal to the English.On 30 May 1431, Joan is interrogated by the French clerical court. Her judges, who are on the side of the Burgundian-English coalition and against the King of France, try to make her say something that will discredit her claim or shake her belief that she has been given a mission by God to drive the English from France, but she remains steadfast. One or two of them, believing that she is indeed a saint, support her.
The authorities then resort to deception. A priest reads a false letter in the prison to the illiterate Joan, supposedly from King Charles VII of France, telling her to trust in the bearer. When that too fails, Joan is taken to view the torture chamber, but the sight, though it causes her to faint, does not intimidate her.
When she is threatened with burning at the stake, Joan finally breaks and allows a priest to guide her hand in signing a confession. However, the judge then condemns her to life imprisonment. After the jailer shaves her head, she realises that she has been unfaithful to God. She demands that the judges return and she recants her confession.
As more and more around her begin to recognise her true faith and calling, she is permitted a final communion mass. She is then dressed in sackcloth and taken to the place of execution. She helps the executioner tie her bonds. The crowds gather and the fire is lit.
As the flames rise, the women weep and a man cries out, "vous avez brûlé une sainte" ("you have burned a saint"). The troops prepare for a riot. As the flames consume Joan, the troops and crowd clash and people are killed. A subtitle states that the flames protect her soul as it rises to Heaven.[5]
Cast
Main characters
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Judges
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Production
Background
After the success of
Dreyer spent over a year and a half researching her; the script was based on the original transcripts of her trial, condensing 29 interrogations over the course of 18 months into one day.[7] In an essay for the Danish Film Institute, Dreyer stated what he had sought to achieve: "I wanted to interpret a hymn to the triumph of the soul over life."[8]
The rights to Joseph Delteil's 1925 anti-conformist book on Joan were bought for the production. Nothing from Delteil's book was used in the film, but he was credited as a source.[9]
Casting
Joan of Arc was Renée Jeanne Falconetti's second and last film role.[10] Although she always preferred the theater to cinema and said she never understood the positive reaction to her acting, Falconetti's performance achieved iconic status almost immediately.[11]
Dreyer had gone to see Falconetti backstage at a performance of
Jean Renoir praised her performance and said "That shaven head was and remains the abstraction of the whole epic of Joan of Arc." She was famously treated harshly by Dreyer, who had a reputation for being a tyrannical director. Dreyer would always clear the set whenever Falconetti needed to act in a particularly emotional or important scene, allowing her to focus without any distractions. Dreyer often had difficulties explaining himself to Falconetti and was known to turn bright red and begin stammering when passionately directing her.[14] Dreyer had stated that a director "must be careful never to force his own interpretation on an actor, because an actor cannot create truth and pure emotions on command. One cannot push feelings out. They have to arise from themselves, and it is the director's and actor's work in unison to bring them to that point."[7] Later in post-production, Falconetti was the only cast member to watch the rushes and the film's editing.[11] According to critic Roger Ebert:
For Falconetti, the performance was an ordeal. Legends from the set tell of Dreyer forcing her to kneel painfully on stone and then wipe all expression from her face—so that the viewer would read suppressed or inner pain. He filmed the same shots again and again, hoping that in the editing room he could find exactly the right nuance in her facial expression.[15]
Among the other cast members was French playwright Antonin Artaud as the monk Massieu. Artaud later stated that the film was meant to "reveal Joan as the victim of one of the most terrible of all perversions: the perversion of a divine principle in its passage through the minds of men, whether they be Church, Government or what you will."[16]
Cinematography
The camerawork of The Passion of Joan of Arc was highly unconventional in its radical emphasis on the actors' facial features. Dreyer shot much of the film in close-up, stating "There were questions, there were answers- very short, very crisp...Each question, each answer, quite naturally called for a close-up...In addition, the result of the close-ups was that the spectator was as shocked as Joan was, receiving the questions, tortured by them."
Dreyer often shot the priests and Joan's other interrogators in high contrast lighting, but then shot Joan in soft, even lighting.[18] Rudolph Maté's high-contrast cinematography also allowed unappealing details in people's faces, such as warts and lumps, to be fully visible. In addition, Dreyer employed many low-angle shots of Joan's persecutors so that they would appear more monstrous and intimidating; in the effort to do this, several holes were dug on the set for the camera to film from the appropriate angle, causing the crew to nickname him "Carl Gruyére".[7] Dreyer also shot the film "from the first to the last scene...in the right order."[17]
Art direction
The film had one of the most expensive sets ever built for a European film up to that time.
Regardless of the detail put into the set, only segments of it are ever visible in the film,[21] which later angered the film's producers since so much money was spent on the set. Dreyer later expressed, however, that the scope of the set heightened the abilities of the actors and actresses to give convincing performances.[22] Hermann Warm's original models for the film's set are currently stored at the Danish Film Institute Archives.[20]
Music
Different scores were used for the two premieres of the Passion of Joan of Arc in Copenhagen and Paris. The music of the Paris version, for orchestra and singers, has survived and has been revived.
Like most directors of that era, Dreyer had no control over the music. He stated he did not fully approve of any score he had heard,
Release and different versions
The Passion of Joan of Arc debuted on 21 April 1928 at the Palads Teatret cinema in Copenhagen. After a few private screenings, it finally premiered in Paris on 25 October 1928 at the Cinema Marivaux. The film's release was delayed due to the persistent efforts of many French nationalists – who objected to the fact that Dreyer was neither Catholic nor French, and to the then-rumored casting of Lillian Gish as Joan. As early as January 1927, Jean-Jose Frappa said that "whatever the talent of the director (and he has it)...he cannot give us a Joan of Arc in the true French tradition. And the American 'star'...cannot be our Joan, wholesome, lively, shining with purity, faith, courage and patriotism. To let this be made in France would be a scandalous abdication of responsibility."[28] Before its French premiere, several cuts were made by order of the Archbishop of Paris and by government censors. Dreyer was angered by these cuts, as he had no control over them. Later that year on 6 December, a fire at UFA studios in Berlin destroyed the film's original negative; only a few copies of Dreyer's original cut of the film existed. Dreyer was able to patch together a new version of the original cut using alternate and initially unused takes. Over the next four decades, it became difficult to find copies of Dreyer's second version, and copies of the original were thought to be even scarcer.[28]
It was re-released in 1933 in a 61-minute cut which included a new narration by radio star David Ross, but no
The next version of the film was produced by Arnie Krogh of the Danish Film Institute. Krogh cut together scenes and sequences from several different available prints to attempt to create a cut that was as true to Dreyer's original vision as possible.[28]
Rediscovery of the original version
The original version was lost for decades after a fire at UFA in Berlin destroyed the master negative,[29] and only variations of Dreyer's second version were available.
In 1981, a janitor found three film cannisters in a closet he was cleaning out at the Dikemark Hospital mental institution in Asker.[29][30] The canisters were sent to the Norwegian Film Institute, where they were stored for three years before finally being examined.[30] It was then discovered that they were Dreyer's original cut prior to government or church censorship.[30]
The print had been shipped from Copenhagen (where the film had premiered) to Asker.[29] It was still in its 1928 packaging, which was addressed to Harald Arnesen, the director of the hospital.[29]
Since Dreyer's death and the rediscovery of the original print, numerous composers have provided music for the film.
- In 1983, the Danish composer and conductor Ole Schmidt composed a score, which was premiered in Los Angeles in 1983 and released on CD by Dacapo Music in 1999 [31]
- In 1994, composer Criterion Collection's DVD release.[32]
- In 1999, American singer/songwriter Cat Power provided musical accompaniment at several screenings of the film in the U.S.[33]
- In 2009, the Estonian composer Tõnu Kõrvits wrote a score for small orchestra (for L´Ensemble De Basse-Normandie 2009/10 concert season) for this film.[34]
- In 2009, the Lithuanian composer
- In 2013 Roger Eno provided a live accompaniment in Oxford.[36]
- In 2015, Donald Greig of the Orlando Consort, a British early music group of unaccompanied singers, designed a score consisting of music from the time of Joan of Arc. The Orlando Consort made a tour with the film. The music selected was mainly by French composers and little known to modern audiences outside the world of early music, an exception being the Agincourt Carol. The lyrics had relevance to the film and included Christine de Pizan's Ditié de Jehanne d’Arc, an elegiac poem written during Joan's lifetime.[26]
- On 7 October 2023, Costa Mesa by presenting Einhorn's Voices of Light and Dreyer's film with Artistic Director Robert Istad conducting the Pacific Symphony. [37]
Reception
Contemporary reviews
On its initial release, the film was a critical success and immediately called a masterpiece. However, it was a financial flop and caused the Société Générale to cancel its contract with Dreyer after the failure of this film and of Abel Gance's Napoléon. Dreyer angrily accused the Société Générale of mutilating the film so as to avoid offending Catholic viewers and sued them for breach of contract. The lawsuit went on until the fall of 1931, during which time Dreyer was unable to make another film.[7] It was banned in Britain for its portrayal of crude English soldiers who mock and torment Joan in scenes that mirror biblical accounts of Christ's mocking at the hands of Roman soldiers. The Archbishop of Paris was also critical, demanding changes be made.[38]
The New York Times's film reviewer Mordaunt Hall raved:
as a film work of art this takes precedence over anything that has so far been produced. It makes worthy pictures of the past look like tinsel shams. It fills one with such intense admiration that other pictures appear but trivial in comparison.[38]
Of the star, he wrote "it is the gifted performance of Maria Falconetti as the Maid of Orleans that rises above everything in this artistic achievement."[38]
However Variety gave the film a negative review on its initial release, calling it "a deadly tiresome picture".[39] In 1929, The National Board of Review named the film one of the best foreign films of the year.[40]
Later evaluations
The film and Falconetti's performance have continued to be praised by critics. Pauline Kael wrote that Falconetti's portrayal "may be the finest performance ever recorded on film."[1][10] Roger Ebert praised the film and said that "You cannot know the history of silent film unless you know the face of Renée Maria Falconetti."[41] Jean Sémolué called it "a film of confrontation" and Paul Schrader has praised "the architecture of Joan's world, which literally conspires against her; like the faces of her inquisitors, the halls, doorways, furniture are on the offensive, striking, swooping at her with oblique angles, attacking her with hard-edged chunks of black and white".[7] Jonathan Rosenbaum wrote that "Dreyer's radical approach to constructing space and the slow intensity of his mobile style make[s] this “difficult” in the sense that, like all the greatest films, it reinvents the world from the ground up."[42]
Some critics have found faults in the film, and Paul Rotha called it "one of the most remarkable productions ever realized in the history and development of cinema, but it was not a full exposition of real filmic properties". Tom Milne stated that "somehow the style Dreyer found for the film seems irremediably false. Instead of flowing naturally from his chosen materials...it seems imposed upon them...Throughout the film there is a constant stylistic uncertainty, an impurity, which jars heavily today", but added that "Jeanne d'Arc has a majestic power which steamrollers its way through all its faults and excesses."[7] On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 98% based on 59 reviews, with an average rating of 9.10/10. The website's consensus reads, "The Passion of Joan of Arc is must-see cinema for Renée Maria Falconetti's incredible performance alone -- and an all-time classic for innumerable other reasons."[43]
The Village Voice ranked it the eighth greatest film of the 20th century in a 2000 poll of critics.
References in other films
Scenes from the film appear in
See also
- Cultural depictions of Joan of Arc
- List of historical drama films
- List of films considered the best
- Trial movies
Notes
- ^ Simon, best known for Boudu Saved from Drowning and L'Atalante, is visible for two brief moments only.
References
- ^ a b The Criterion Collection: Passion of Joan of Arc, The – Synopsis by Anonymous. Retrieved 22 March 2007.
- ^ DVD commentary by Casper Tybjerg, Associate Professor of Film Studies at the Department of Media, Cognition and Communication at the University of Copenhagen.
- ^ "Janus Films Presents The Passion of Joan of Arc" (PDF). Janus Films. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 September 2022.
- ^ "Public Domain Day 2024 | Duke University School of Law". web.law.duke.edu.
- ISBN 0-253-12740-8. pp. 27-76.
- ISBN 0-8242-0757-2.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Wakeman. p. 268.
- ^ "Realized Mysticism in The Passion of Joan of Arc by Carl Theodor Dreyer The Criterion Collection (8 November 1999); retrieved 15 September 2020
- ^ Dreyer. p. 21.
- ^ ISBN 0-03-042606-5.
- ^ a b c d Criterion. Interview with Hélène Falconetti.
- ^ Milne. p. 95.
- ^ Milne. pp. 95-96.
- ^ Milne. p. 97.
- ^ a b Ebert, Roger (16 February 1997). "The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)". rogerebert.com. Archived from the original on 6 February 2013. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
- ^ Milne. pp. 106-107.
- ^ a b Carl Theodor Dreyer. "Realized Mysticism in The Passion of Joan of Arc". Danish Film Institute (reprinted by The Criterion Collection). Retrieved 8 September 2010.
- ^ Milne. p. 103.
- ^ The Criterion Collection. The Passion of Joan of Arc DVD. Special features: Production design. 1999.
- ^ a b c Criterion. Production design.
- ^ Milne, Tom. The Cinema of Carl Dreyer. New York: A. S. Barnes & Co. 1971. SBN 498-07711-X. p. 94.
- ^ Cutler, Sylvia (26 March 2015). "The Passion of Joan of Arc: Alienation and Games of Perception". Brigham Young University. Retrieved 19 December 2015. "When the first rounds of the film were released the producers were horrified to find that the rebuilt city was not featured in the film. Dreyer explained that the city was not for the film, but rather for the actors so that they could experience the milieu of the old city for themselves."
- ^ Joseph McLellan (25 July 1996). "Orchestra and singers bring silent film to life". Washington Post. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
- ^ Le Ménestrel. Vol. 94 no. 19 (6 May 1932): 200. Accessed via RIPM (subscription required).
- ^ Gillian Anderson, The Passion of Joan of Arc
- ^ a b Greig, Donald (7 July 2015). "Joan of Arc". theguardian.com. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
- ^ Greig, Donald (7 July 2015). "Joan of Arc: striking the right note for a silent film classic". The Guardian.
- ^ a b c d Criterion. Version History.
- ^ a b c d e f Larsen, Lisbeth Richter (23 May 2010). "The Different Versions of 'Jeanne D'Arc'". www.carlthdreyer.dk.
- ^ a b c Turley, K. V. (29 May 2016). "Out of the Ashes: The Passion of Joan of Arc". The Catholic World Report.
- ^ jens (17 March 2016). "Jeanne d'Arc". Dacapo Records (in Danish). Retrieved 3 February 2022.
- ^ Moving Pictures: Chorus Performs Dramatic Oratorio for Classic Film. Category: Arts & Events from. The Berkeley Daily Planet. Retrieved 5 June 2012.
- ^ Chan Marshall interview Archived 15 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Kinda Muzik site. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
- ^ Estonian Composer Union website Archived 14 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine. helilooja.ee. 8 June 2014.
- ^ Berg Orchestra website. www.berg.cz. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
- ^ "The Passion of Joan of Arc - The Ultimate Picture Palace". uppcinema.com. Archived from the original on 20 April 2021. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
- ^ "Pacific Chorale Opens Season with VOICES OF LIGHT / THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC a Stunning Evening of Music and Film".
- ^ a b c Mordaunt Hall (31 March 1929). "The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)". The New York Times.
- ^ "Review: 'Le Passion de Jeanne D'Arc'". Variety. 1 January 1928. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
- ^ "The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2014. Archived from the original on 7 December 2014. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
- ^ "The Passion of Joan of Arc". rogerebert.com. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
- ^ "The Passion of Joan of Arc". The Chicago Reader. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
- Fandango. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
- ^ 100 Best Films – Village Voice. Filmsite.org (4 January 2000). Retrieved 5 June 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-306-81096-1. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
- ^ "100 Essential Films by The National Society of Film Critics". filmsite.org.
- ^ "Cahiers du cinéma's 100 Greatest Films". 23 November 2008.
- ^ "The Sight & Sound Top Ten Poll: 1952". Sight & Sound. Archived from the original on 14 May 2011. Retrieved 24 February 2008.
- ^ "The Sight & Sound Top Ten Poll: 1972". Sight & Sound. Archived from the original on 17 July 2007. Retrieved 24 February 2008.
- ^ "The Sight & Sound Top Ten Poll: 1992". Sight & Sound. Archived from the original on 9 March 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2008.
- Sight & Sound magazine. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 19 December 2015 – via British Film Institute.
- ^ "Joan of Arc". Sight & Sound. Archived from the original on 20 August 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
- ^ "Michael Mann". Sight & Sound. Archived from the original on 25 August 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
- ^ "Kutlug Ataman". Sight & Sound. Archived from the original on 27 August 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
- ^ "The Passion of Joan of Arc: No 22 best arthouse film of all time". theguardian. 20 October 2010.
- ^ "TIFF Essential 100". 22 December 2010. Archived from the original on 26 December 2010. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
- Copenhagen Post. 22 September 2010. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
- ^ Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time. Listology (14 March 2006). Retrieved 5 June 2012.[unreliable source?]
- British Broadcasting Corporation. 29 October 2018. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
External links
- The Passion of Joan of Arc at IMDb
- The Passion of Joan of Arc at AllMovie
- The Passion of Joan of Arc at the TCM Movie Database
- The Passion of Joan of Arc is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
- The Passion of Joan of Arc at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Passion of Joan of Arc at AllMovie
- Realized Mysticism in The Passion of Joan of Arc an essay by Carl Theodor Dreyer at the Criterion Collection
- Voted No. 4 on The Arts and Faith Top 100 Films (2010) Archived 21 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine