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Comments 1 - 15 of 27

tk338's avatar

tk338

This is an extraordinary film and may arguably represent silent cinema at its peak. The power of the close-up, the human face, and the expressionistic style. It changes you to watch The Passion of Joan of Arc. You emerge from the experience as a changed person, having taken the journey of Joan's final days with the mesmerizing Maria Falconetti, a performance for all time. I loved the score by Richard Einhorn, "Voices of Light." The film is deeply spiritual and a true masterpiece of the art form. In comparison to the wave of current religion projects on film and television, they just retell familiar stories; this is transcendent, a completely religious experience. Very highly recommended.
10 years 7 months ago
dombrewer's avatar

dombrewer

Saw this for the second time tonight - this time with a live orchestra - and it confirms for me that it is without question one of the best films ever made. I don't understand how anyone could think the acting is anything other than sublime - Falconetti puts in a performance fifty years ahead of her time. Compare with any other screen performance of the 20s, all that quaint theatrical mugging and melodrama (Sunrise? Oh please!), and she blows absolutely everyone out of the water. It's practically a modern performance, utterly committed and deeply felt. Dreyer's direction is also mind-blowingly modern for 1928. It's hard to believe this was made when cinema was still in its infancy. Breathtaking.
13 years 6 months ago
Brantastic16's avatar

Brantastic16

INCREDIBLE. Engaging and emotionally draining from start to finish. Falconetti's crying face will forever be ingrained into my mind.
13 years 2 months ago
seithscott's avatar

seithscott

Very tense, beautiful and dark film about the hypocrisies of organized religion and the price one pays for their beliefs. The editing was great and wonderful acting from Maria Falconetti.
13 years 6 months ago
screwball27's avatar

screwball27

Absolutely amazing performance from Falconetti. A film that truly deserves it's reputation as one of the finest pieces of cinema ever created.
11 years ago
Camille Deadpan's avatar

Camille Deadpan

Maria Falconetti is amazing. What a performance!
11 years 1 month ago
Dieguito's avatar

Dieguito

Brilliant, spiritually dense with all religion background! Sublime acting performance and direction.
13 years 2 months ago
peterskb45's avatar

peterskb45

Believe the hype.
6 years 8 months ago
grit's avatar

grit

I actually cried at the end, very good, I must agree with the previous comments
13 years 2 months ago
Zeltaebar's avatar

Zeltaebar

This is as close a movie can come to being a religious experience. This did for Joan of Arc what Mel Gibson failed to do for Jesus with his Passion of the Christ.
13 years 3 months ago
Scratch47's avatar

Scratch47

WOW. Powerful...
(and when it comes to being burned alive, I don't think you can call anything overacting!)
13 years 7 months ago
tourdesb's avatar

tourdesb

One of the best movies of all time.
14 years 5 months ago
captain canuck's avatar

captain canuck

- Saw the 24 Frames version with an excellent choral score. A haunting beautifully made silent film. No wide shots; almost every shot focuses on facial reactions; not the typical ‘stereotypical silent film facial reaction’. Made interesting/other worldly use of ‘stark’ sets; all scenes had all white/grey background. A real powerful film about religious belief and ‘religious symbolism’. The lead performance was one of the best I have seen in a movie. An excellent silent film.
4 years 3 months ago
Siskoid's avatar

Siskoid

When I was in the university film history course, the professor showed Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc, which he'd taped off the television. He hated the sappy violin that had been used a soundtrack, so he made us watch it without any sound at all. We were still completely riveted. That's the power of Dreyer's intense close-ups and, the further we get into the film, his experimental, unhinged camera work. Turns out, Dreyer hated all the scores composed for his film too, and if he'd had his way, it would have played silent. Well, the Criterion edition has a church choir score that supports the subject well. As for the film, it's a shocking, emotional drama, in large part based on the actual transcripts of Jeanne's trial, in which monstrous clergymen try to make a young woman (or possibly a trans young man) reject her faith, through browbeating, torture, trickery and threats. If that sounds upside-down, it's because the Church is not here interested in faith so much as OWNING faith and controlling the faithful. She will show them what real belief is like and ascend to sainthood. Dreyer's early interest in faith is on full display, and he takes no prisoners. Maria Falconetti's acting is superb and the final stake scene one of the most harrowing in all of cinema.
4 years 10 months ago
nrmnp's avatar

nrmnp

Emotional! Pitch-perfect!
12 years 2 months ago

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