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Critics Consensus: The Passion of Joan of Arc is must-see cinema for Renée Maria Falconetti's incredible performance alone -- and an all-time classic for innumerable other reasons.
Critic Consensus: The Passion of Joan of Arc is must-see cinema for Renée Maria Falconetti's incredible performance alone -- and an all-time classic for innumerable other reasons.
All Critics (44) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (43) | Rotten (1) | DVD (5)
This is neither a hopeful nor a hopeless film, but one of feeling so colossal and resplendent, it can't be constrained by prison or consumed by fire.
Here is a deadly tiresome picture that merely makes an attempt to narrate without sound or dialog an allegedly written recorded trial in the 15th or 16th century of Joan of Arc for witchery, leading to her condemnation and burning at the stake.
Dreyer's radical approach to constructing space and the slow intensity of his mobile style make this "difficult" in the sense that, like all the greatest films, it reinvents the world from the ground up.
Dreyer's most universally acclaimed masterpiece remains one of the most staggeringly intense films ever made.
It is the gifted performance of Maria Falconetti as the Maid of Orleans that rises above everything in this artistic achievement.
Few films have earned classic status more than Carl Dreyer's 1928 silent study of the 15th-Century teenager who helped lead French troops against the British only to be tried as a heretic.
a pinnacle of silent film art, expressive acting, and naturalistic intensity
Falconetti's visage in Carl Th. Dreyer's silent classic La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc produces some of the most indelible images in film history.
The film makes for an intimately unsettling watch, as Dreyer's style of shooting (harsh angles to go along with all those up-close-and-personal visages) traps the viewer as much as the players.
It is likewise masterful: so rich, so gorgeous and muscular in its register of tones, in the deep, smoky darkness, that I felt the cold of the castle scenes in watching it.
...constructed largely of close-ups and was filmed on a single concrete set representing the prison where Joan of Arc was imprisoned ...
While strong with French nationalistic sentiment, it was made by a Danish director and a German designer, but its powerful message speaks to people of all nations.
Baffling us with spectacular visuals and one of the most magnificent performances in the history of Cinema, it is nearly unbelievable how Dreyer made such a stunning masterpiece solely from rejected material after his original master print had been accidentally destroyed.
Super Reviewer
Very simple and minimalistic, yet very compelling and harrowing. What I found intriguing - and a bit bizarre, knowing how meticulous Dreyer could be - was that single shot where one of the priests was clearly seen wearing 20th century glasses. Why would he have left it in? Was it a reference to someone?
With breathtaking visuals and a potent story, it's hard to believe this was released in 1928.
Tonight, Sunday 7/22 Midnight E.S.T. Turner Classics
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