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The Passion of Joan of Arc

La passion de Jeanne d'Arc

France

1928

82 Min
Black and White
1.33:1
Danish
  • Currently 4.3/5 Stars.
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DIR Carl Theodor Dreyer

SCR Carl Theodor Dreyer

DP Rudolph Maté

CAST Renée Jeanne Falconetti, Eugène Silvain, André Berley, Maurice Schutz, Antonin Artaud, Gilbert Dalleu, Jean d'Yd, Louis Ravet

ED Marguerite Beaugé, Carl Theodor Dreyer

PROD DES Jean Hugo

MUSIC Ole Schmidt, Jesper Kyd

SXSW (Special Events)

Synopsis

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. Criterion is proud to present this milestone of silent cinema in a new special edition featuring composer Richard Einhorn’s Voices of Light, an original opera/oratorio inspired by the film. —The Criterion Collection

Director

Original

Carl Theodor Dreyer

Carl Theodor Dreyer was born out of wedlock to a Swedish housekeeper, Josefina Nilsson (1855-1891), who gave him up for adoption immediately after. The first year and a half of his life was turbulent, but the little boy finally found a home with the Dreyer family and was named Carl Theodor after his adoptive father. Dreyer’s birth mother died not long after his eventual adoption. Several film scholars have interpreted Dreyer’s frequent depictions of tragic women as an autobiographical element in his films.

Dreyer began his career as a reporter, specialising in aviation early on, in 1910-1913. Himself an active balloonist, he got a balloonist’s certificate in November 1911. Alongside his journalism, he wrote screenplays. His first realised script was Bryggerens Datter (Dagmar) (Rasmus Ottesen, 1912), produced by Det Skandinavisk-russiske Handelshus. In 1913-1918, he worked as a script consultant and writer at Nordisk Film, where he also made his directorial debut… read more

Wall

Displaying 4 of 87 wall posts.
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comeandsee

30Jan12

for me, the best silent film ever made.

melly likes this

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Jon

24Jan12

oh, Bobby Bresson, you silly old man; this is a masterpiece.

Siksinaaq

18Jan12

Fantastic ending sequence.

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Howard Orr

26Dec11

Astoundingly powerful. One of the relatively few silent films that hasn't aged because of its rigorous insistence on minimalism: close-ups with no establishing shots, bare sets, its exploration of inner faith eschewing any objective survey of the existence of God...and perhaps the greatest performance in all of cinema.

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Fans

Displaying 5 of 3304 fans.

Articles

Our roundup of essays and articles on this film.
W184

Daily Briefing. "Twin Peaks" @ 20

By David Hudson on October 29, 2011

Also: The Passion of Joan of Arc accompanied by Adrian Utley (Portishead) and Will Gregory (Goldfrapp).

read article
W184

Dreyer, Malle, Davies, Huston

By David Hudson on November 20, 2010

The Carl Theodor Dreyer retrospective at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley has been going on since the beginning of the month and runs

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W184

TIFF 2010. Images of the day

By Daniel Kasman on September 18, 2010

From Martin Arnold's Jeanne (2002), currently being projected at the Bell Lightbox.

read article
W184

The Tubular Muse: The Close-Up

By Daniel Kasman on August 18, 2009

Anna Faris in "Smiley Face" (2007) & Maria Falconetti in "The Passion of Joan of Arc" (1928) "I will never find the way to say how much

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Image of the day: Martyrs & Saints

By Pacze Moj on April 9, 2009

The Interrogation (Bugajski, 1982): two shots of Krystyna Janda as a political prisoner, which remind me of Maria Falconetti in Dreyer's

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At the cinematheque: "The Bride of Glomdale" (Dreyer, 1926)

By David Phelps on March 20, 2009

Above: The Bride of Glomdale (1926).  Image courtesy of The Danish Film Institute/Stills & Posters Archive. Almost all early Carl Th

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Dreyer Diary #1: "Joan"

By Ryland Walker Knight on March 15, 2009

The Brooklyn Academy of Music will be running a Carl Th. Dreyer retrospective, appropriately and monolithically titled DREYER, from March 13

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Montage for Carl Th. Dreyer, part 4

By David Phelps on March 12, 2009

The Brooklyn Academy of Music will be running the Carl Th. Dreyer retrospective, appropriately and monolithically titled DREYER, from March 13

read article

Lists

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Reviews

Displaying 4 of 7

Psalm 22

1 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help? 2 Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer. Every night you hear my voice, but I find no relief…  read review

Greatest Silent Film Ever Made!

By Beneezy on March 21, 2010

(Sunday / March 21, 2010 / 2:00am)

“The Passion Of Joan Of Arc” is arguably the best, if not the greatest “silent” film ever made and greatest film of all time. This film was done with precise…  read review

Untitled

By Phillip​EJohnst​on on November 3, 2009

It could not be more perfect.

Lesser films made from Joan’s story have fallen into the trap of turning the spiritual elements of her final moments into a melodramatic pastiche of supernatural…  read review

Untitled

By J. Ridicul​ous on June 8, 2009

The film is a dichotomy; at once both a medieval passion play, and also an innovative piece made in the still new art form of film. Its focus on the use of faces to tell the story of Joan of Arc pioneered…  read review

Forum

Displaying 7 discussion topics.

La Comtesse de Somerive (1917)

1 post by 1 person 6 days ago

Sound Track to Dryer's Joan of Arc

9 posts by 8 people 3 months ago

the passion of joan of arc

57 posts by 26 people 7 months ago

Where are Carl Th. Dreyer's films on Mubi?

3 posts by 2 people over 1 year ago

TIFF's Essential 100

1 post by 1 person over 1 year ago

Distrbing and Ravishing

6 posts by 5 people over 2 years ago

DVD

Buy the DVD from The Criterion Collection.