The "St Matthew Passion" of Silents

Rating: Null/10 (1 July 2000)

Remember when in "Sunset Boulevard," Norma Desmond asserted that in her era, the silent era, "They had faces!" Well, this film certainly has faces. Carl Theodore Dreyer's "The Passion of Joan of Arc" indeed ends the silent era on a high note by projecting, like none before, its strongest attribute - the visual.
In a way, this is how Bach brought the baroque era in music to its culmination. Once he had made his statement, there was nothing left to say. I think the same can be said about Dreyer and his "Passion"
Moreover, I think Dreyer's "Passion" can be compared to Bach's "St. Matthew Passion". Both were created by Lutherans, who took their religion seriously. Bach used music as the idiom of his devotion, as I think Dreyer did with film. In fact, Dreyer's frustrated ambition was to make a Life of Christ, which he had finally begun just before his death. I would suggest, that what we are seeing in "Joan of Arc" and Dreyer's other films is - as we are hearing in Bach's music - the passion of a great master.
By the way, Pauline Kael says that Falconetti's Joan may be the greatest performance by an actress ever filmed.