Événement

The Passion of Joan of Arc @ Robert Classic French Film Festival

Saturday, March 19, 7:30 p.m.
The Passion of Joan of Arc/La passion de Jeanne d'Arc
Carl Th. Dreyer, 1928, 82 min., B&W, silent, DVD projection source

With live accompaniment by the Rats & People Motion Picture Orchestra

With its stunning camerawork and striking compositions, Carl Th. Dreyer's "The Passion of Joan of Arc" convinced the world that movies could be art. Renée Falconetti gives one of the greatest performances ever recorded on film, as the young maiden who died for God and France. Long thought to have been lost to fire, the original version was miraculously found in perfect condition in 1981 -- in a Norwegian mental institution. In the 2012 edition of Sight & Sound's once-a-decade poll of film critics, "The Passion of Joan of Arc" was ranked No. 9 on the list of cinema's greatest works.

Time Out London writes: "Dreyer's most universally acclaimed masterpiece remains one of the most staggeringly intense films ever made. It deals only with the final stages of Joan's trial and her execution, and is composed almost exclusively of close-ups: hands, robes, crosses, metal bars, and (most of all) faces. The face we see most is, naturally, Falconetti's as Joan, and it's hard to imagine a performer evincing physical anguish and spiritual exaltation more palpably. Dreyer encloses this stark, infinitely expressive face with other characters and sets that are equally devoid of decoration and equally direct in conveying both material and metaphysical essences. The entire film is less moulded in light than carved in stone: it's magisterial cinema, and almost unbearably moving."

With an introduction and post-film discussion by Andrew Wyatt, film critic for St. Louis Magazine's Look/Listen arts-and-entertainment blog and the Gateway Cinephile film blog.

Sponsored by Jane M. & Bruce P. Robert Charitable Foundation