The Nerve, The Vision

Rating: 9/10 (5 January 2013)

The Masters of Cinema series released their long-awaited restoration of Dreyer's "La passion de Jeanne d'Arc" (1928) on Blu-ray last November. It includes the "Oslo print" in two different projection speeds, both 20fps and 24fps, as well as the "Lo Duca" bastardization. Highly recommended not only for the beautiful 1080p presentation but also for the booklet that comes with it.
It's been some 10 years since I last saw this, and intriguingly divergent films and memories have superseded Dreyer's film in the memory. I couldn't remember the stylized movement of the camera and the imaginative camera angles, and how they have likely inspired Eisenstein's "Ivan Groznyi" (1944) and Welles' "Othello" (1952). Dreyer's unflinching nerve, his clear vision, and the unity of that vision. Someone somewhere has called this the ultimate close-up, and it most certainly is. Nick Wrigley, formerly of the Masters of Cinema team, describes the release on Twitter as "a magic death-defying fever dream. I can't imagine a luckier Blu-ray on earth. 20fps pure joy". I really like the phrasing in "death-defying fever dream"; this is exactly that, a fervent, dreamlike, atmospheric, never-consumed – much like his later masterpiece and for me his apotheosis, "Vampyr" (1932), his subsequent film.
And if you've never tried it, it's one of the most intimate experiences one can have, watching a silent film completely silent, without any music. I did this with the silent comedies of Ozu, released by the BFI on DVD, mainly because I didn't like the new scores they recorded for them. The experience is otherworldly.
The "Lo Duca" version now seems like a bad joke in its emotional manipulativeness. If you want to find out how to mistreat the beautiful passages of Bach and Albinoni, look no further and give the "Lo Duca" a spin.
I prefer the 20fps version, and I really have no interest in going back to 24fps unless for comparative purposes. It flows more naturally (to my eyes) and viewed silent has more flair to it (to my tastes).
I'm looking forward to many high definition fever dreams to come.