200 - The Passion of Joan of Arc, 1928, France. Dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer.

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

200 - The Passion of Joan of Arc, 1928, France.  Dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer.

The Passion of Joan of Arc is one of the most famous silent films in film history.

For many who know of Dreyer, it is the only film by him that they know.

It is the kind of film you may have watched in elementary, junior high, or high school, shown by teachers who themselves had never studied film in a formal way.

And you may have thought it to be odd, strange, or over-the-top with its seemingly bare set (set! not sets), its constant vignetted frame, the Dutch angles (where the camera is tilted up and rotated at a diagonal), the many close-ups, the strange cuts, and the big bug-eyed faces.

If you further study film, you discover that this film breaks all kinds of rules.  In fact, in some ways it does not even seek to keep them in the first place.

Such as matching one shot to the next, for example.  Are they even looking at one another when they speak?

And if you do not know, you might think that the film seems so odd because it is old, because it was released in 1928, and maybe films were just that strange back then.

But 1928 is actually late in the game, and it is late for Dreyer himself, let alone the industry.  It was his thirty-third film to be involved with and his eighth film to direct.

He had already made outdoor epics in the mode of the American D.W. Griffith, and he had already made chamber dramas in the mode of the German kammerspielfilm.

If you are looking at keeping cinematic rules, then this is a step backwards.

Have we mentioned that Dreyer is not concerned with keeping the rules?  At least not all of them.

He is definitely going after a distinctive style here.  Maybe even one that will mark the film as unique.

He is reported to have researched the subject thoroughly and to have insisted on precise authenticity of story, dialogue, architecture, and clothing.

If so--if the historical Joan really was so afraid during the trial, as she is depicted in the film--then how does that fit in with her being fearless as a teenage girl leading grown men into battle?

It can happen.

The mighty prophet Elijah cowered before Jezebel.

There is much to say about this one, but we shall stop there for now.

Watch the movie.

Let me know what you think.

This film's influence on films that followed is immeasurable.