Vastly overrated

Rating: 6/10 (1 October 2000)

After hearing the enormous amount of praise for this film, I was expecting to be swept off my feet. However, I found myself incredibly underwhelmed by this incredibly mediocre movie. Confused by my reaction, I asked two friends I had seen it with (both seasoned classic cinema fans) what they thought, and they agreed with me. Together we worked out its three biggest problems.
1. Worst of all, Dreyer assumes we will automatically sympathize with Joan of Arc, so he does little to help us in that respect. Some may argue that scenes with cruel guards/priests are enough. However, this argument fails since Dreyer never convinces us that Joan is truthful. In fact, he accidentally gives the opposite impression, with numerous shots of her so wide-eyed she looks like she's about to pick up an axe and chop up the judges.
2. None of the film's four most powerful scenes belong to Joan. They instead belong to a torture device and various people who sympathize with Joan.
3. The music is too good. Normally, great music isn't a problem, but since there is so little quality on screen, "Passion"'s music completely overshadows the rest of the film. One of my friends went so far as to say he felt as if he was hearing an orchestration accompanied by various images rather than a film accompanied by music.
Lesson: Not all critically acclaimed films are actually good.