The Passion of Joan of Arc (La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc)
Part of the BAMcinematek series DREYER
Fri, Mar 13 at 6:50*, 9:15pm
*The 6:50pm screening features live piano accompaniment by Donald Sosin. The 9:15pm screening is completely silent
Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer
With Maria Falconetti
(1928) 81min
"One of the greatest of all movies... Falconetti's Joan may be the finest performance ever recorded on film." –Pauline Kael
A true landmark of European art cinema, Dreyer’s silent masterpiece is a sublime meditation on suffering and faith. Based on original transcripts, the film depicts the trial, torture, and execution of Joan of Arc, told largely through close-ups of Maria Falconetti’s hauntingly expressive face. Deeply spiritual and profoundly moving, Joan of Arc fully embodies Dreyer’s singular, ascetic style. The 6:50pm screening features live piano accompaniment by Donald Sosin. The 9:15pm screening will be completely silent. Archival print.
Roger Ebert's review of The Passion of Joan of Arc
"You cannot know the history of silent film unless you know the face of Renee Maria Falconetti. In a medium without words, where the filmmakers believed that the camera captured the essence of characters through their faces, to see Falconetti in Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) is to look into eyes that will never leave you." More
Senses of Cinema on The Passion of Joan of Arc
"In La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc, Carl Dreyer directed one of the great performances of the cinema and in the process created one of its greatest icons." More
The Guardian review of The Passion of Joan of Arc
"Stunning in its power, uncompromising in its severity and seriousness, Carl Theodor Dreyer's silent masterpiece from 1928 all but scorches a hole in the screen." More