An Indisputably Authentic Art-piece

Rating: Null/10 (18 May 2003)

This film is a highly emotional document of the final conflict between the eventually sainted 'heretic' Joan of Arc and her interrogators, and Joan d'Arc's subsequent burning at the stake in the 15th century...(1437, I believe)

1.) By utilizing the actual manuscripts of the trial and Mlle. Rene Falconetti's empathetic talents, Dreyer quite possibly distilled the account of the incident to its authentic emotional content.

2.) The pitch is established through eyes, nose and mouth of Falconetti and by the arrangement of the others around her - before her, accusing; beside her, questioning; one alone, despairing; behind her, whispering.

3.) The accompanying choral soundtrack (Einhorn's "Voices of Light") fits the syntactic framework perfectly. However, I have never viewed it as it was intended as a truly silent film.

4.) It is the embellished soul of both Dreyer and Falconetti that invoke the possibility of art in the soul of the viewer.