La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc (1928)
Adapted from the actual trial transcripts, the film follows the interrogation, condemnation, and execution of Joan of Arc, told almost entirely through close-ups of her judges and her anguished face.
La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc rests on Renée Falconetti’s performance, filmed in extreme close-up with almost no makeup and almost no intertitles; Falconetti never made another film, and Dreyer’s original negative was believed lost for decades until a print turned up in a Norwegian mental institution in 1981.
Background
La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc was directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer and drew on the actual surviving transcripts of Joan of Arc’s trial for its dialogue and structure. Dreyer shot much of the film in unusually tight close-up, with Renée Falconetti, in her only film role, wearing almost no makeup so that every flicker of emotion would register clearly. Falconetti’s performance is widely regarded as one of the greatest in film history, though she never appeared in another film.
What to watch for
The film’s original negative was believed lost for decades after a fire destroyed early prints, until a nearly complete copy was discovered in the 1980s in the storage of a Norwegian mental institution, of all places. Watch for how sparingly the film uses intertitles and conventional scene-setting, relying instead almost entirely on faces to carry the story of Joan’s interrogation and execution. It remains one of the most studied and admired performances in silent cinema.
