Reviews of The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) and related work
- Same source material: The Trial of Joan of Arc (1962)
- Same source material: The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928
)
Review refers to a literally silent version.
Protestant pro-religious orgy of closeups.
‣ The Trial of Joan of Arc (1962)
Seen in 2024.
Director Robert Bresson instructed his cinematographer and camera operator not to use the good tricks Dreyer used in the 1928 film. Instead, this is Bresson’s usual flat affect, spotty on context. The medieval setting and characters are faintly sketched, undermined by modern nails and handrails in the tiny number of sets.
The script is based on the minutes of the two real trials against the historical figure, including the one that got her killed in 1431 and the posthumous retrial of 1455–1456, though the latter is not depicted in the film. Bresson’s artistic interpretations of the records are more naïvistic than Brechtian. They are neither beautiful nor reasonable nor profound. For example, we hear the English shouting “Burn the witch!” from time time to time, but not when it makes sense, not with adequate reaction or explanation or symbolism, and never on screen.
Contemporary Hollywood compensated for such weak writing with dramatic delivery in sword-and-sandal spectacles, but Bresson does not. His Joan is realistically ignorant, but not realistically sassy or self-important, and not charismatic or strong enough to have been able to carry a mainstream film. Bresson just leaves it up to the viewer to fill in whatever they want the film to mean, through the Kuleshov effect.
References here: The Quran (632/650).
moving picture same source material fiction