Excellent idea. mediocre execution

Rating: 6/10 (16 June 2005)

I'd first like to state this comment is NOT religiously biased, I choose not to follow religion, so I'm not biased towards believing this story or finding it stupid.
The story of Joan Of Arc is fascinating to say the least. It shows the prejudice of the religious community both in times long gone and now, and for the twenties, it's quite well filmed.
The cinematography is impressive in some areas, but the initial scenes are weak beyond description, the extreme and over-used close-ups becoming tiring and Dreyer's distaste for make-up results in some very unwanted glare from certain actors' faces.
But the thing that harmed this potentially perfect film the most is the fact that it lacks sound, had Dreyer waited a few years or attempted to get more or done anything to acquire sound mixing equipment, this film would have been better, the intertitles give the most obvious of the film's dialog and the minor chatter and several important scenes leave to read lips, this kept Passion de Jeanne d'Arc from being the religious epic to end all religious epics.