The Film
The story of Jeanne d'Arc has been filmed many times. First effort in 1898 by Georges Hatot. Natural topic for early film as story promoted in school textbooks, popularised in nationalist histories by Michelet.
After the trial records were first published in 1920 and Jeanne canonised by the Pope, the image of Jeanne the military commander was replaced by the "persecuted Jeanne". Films by Bresson (Le Procès de Jeanne d'Arc (The Trial of Jeanne d'Arc) (1962)) and Dreyer focused almost exclusively on trial after her defeat and capture.
Carl Dreyer compresses the 18th month trial with the 29 intensive interrogations of Jeanne into one interrogation on the day before her execution (burning at the stake) on 30 May, 1431.
At a time when Abel Gance was making patriotic films (i.e. nationalistic and tinged with fascist sentiments) about French historical figures such as Napoleon, Carl Dreyer was employed by a French film company to make a film about an important French female historical figure (Marie Antoinette, Catherine de Medici, and the Maid of Orléans).
The result is less a nationalistic film than a highly individualistic film (and hence anti-fascist) about a peasant girl who stood up to the authority of her time (viz, the Catholic Church). Robin Burns calls this a "Protestant Jeanne".
Alternate versions for La Passion de Jean d'Arc
Around 1950 a French film historian, Lo Duca, discovered the second negative in the vaults of Gaumont Studios, in pristine condition. Sadly, he created his own version, changing the original and including a score that was a montage of Albinoni, Vivaldi, and other Baroque composers. Intertitles were done away with and replaced with subtitles, and the film opens in a voice-over. Dreyer was horrified and disowned Duca's version.
In 1981 a print was discovered in a closet of a mental institution in Oslo, Norway. The film was sent to the Norwegian Film Institute where it was found to be a copy of the original 1928 version with Danish intertitles. Uncensored prints were shipped to Copenhagen, and were not censored there, making the discovered print the defining version.
A full restoration was made in 1985 by the Cinémathèque Française under the direction of Vincent Pinel, using the same Danish print in the Danske Filmmuseum in Copenhagen. Intertitles were translated from Danish to French by Michel Drouzy. It uses the score "Voices of Light" by Richard Einhorn and runs 82 minutes. Wiew the complete film |
A film of the last few months of Jeanne d'Arc's life.
Less about the warrior Jeanne and more about the trial and its impact. The title hints at the "passion plays" of the life of Christ - another martyr. Regarded by many critics as one of the greatest silent films ever made.
This rarely offered film was lost to history for decades.
The film was thought to have been lost in a fire. Because of its reputation, counterfeits were widespread. Fortunes were scammed. Then by pure accident the original version was found in a janitor's closet of a Norwegian mental institution in 1981.
Wiew the complete film
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Overview
