The Legendary Falconetti Anchors Dreyer Silent Classic

Rating: 10/10 (14 December 2005)

I was completely floored when I first saw this movie in the basement of the San Jose Main Library sometime in the early seventies. The mesmerizing performance of Maria (Renée) Falconetti, filmed primarily as a series of brutalizing close-ups, is still the main reason to revisit Carl Theodor Dreyer's austere and claustrophobic 1928 silent film classic about the trial and execution of Joan of Arc. There is little provided in the way of background or context, as Dreyer made an intentional decision to use the original trial records as the basis of his dialogue. Using a minimum of sets, almost abstract in orientation, he uses the camera frame as his canvas by showing the bullying interrogation of Joan by her inquisitors in a series of face shots against a white backdrop. The actors had to use their make-up-free faces as their sole means of expression. There are never any establishing shots, so the viewer never knows where the characters are in relationship to each other. Instead, Dreyer uses dramatic camera angles to convey people's position in the story. As the film builds to its climax, graphic footage of Joan being burned at the stake alternates with sequences of angry French peasants being brutally driven out of Rouen Castle by club-wielding English soldiers. Many of the shots feel abstract and out of proportion to convey a world turned upside down.
The overall effect of these creative and daring techniques gives the film a more contemporary feeling than a standard silent, and luckily, adding to the freshness of the treatment is a pristine print found in Copenhagen, the basis of the transfer in this Criterion Collection DVD. An effectively stirring enhancement is Richard Einhorn's beautiful "Voices of Light", an oratorio specifically written to accompany the film decades after its release. Falconetti was 35 when she played the 19-year old peasant girl, but she is entirely convincing using her large eyes and facial plains to build her character's spirit as it dwindles under the pressure of the French clergymen who rule her fate. One truly believes her assertion that she is a messenger for God. Never to act on screen again, she gives a truly legendary performance deserving of the hosannas received over the years. The DVD contains an interesting commentary track on which Dreyer scholar Casper Tybjerg provides a wealth of information. It also contains features on the film's unusually stylized production design, Einhorn's music, and the checkered history of the many versions that "The Passion of Joan of Arc" has gone through over the years. In spite of its unrelenting tone and some scenes that will make you wince, it's a masterwork that still resonates 77 years later.