The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer. Starring Maria Falconetti, Eugène Silvain, André Berley, Antonin Artaud, Gilbert Dalleu, Maurice Schutz, Jean d’Yd.

Essential dramatization of the trial of Joan of Arc, culled from historical transcripts. A grueling and fiercely dramatic work, stamped by Dreyer’s ardent direction, radical use of close-ups and steeply oblique camera angles, the abstract geometry of the single large and malleable set, the irrational subjectivity of the editing scheme, and Falconetti’s galvanizing lead performance. It is the only one the stage actress ever did on film, and her solemnly open face manages to be enormously expressive and subtle at the same time, trembling with conviction instead of fear, speaking less through the dialogue of the intertitle text than with the bulging saucer eyes that expose her soul. An unusually intimate historical piece that’s disinterested in romantic sweep, scenery, and costuming, but instead in staging a relentless persecution within religious and sexual suggestion; it’s go-for-broke at a time when the coffers were hardly bare, which only makes it more courageous and alien. Written by Dreyer and Joseph Delteil; photographed by Rudolph Maté.

95/100