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Contents © 2000
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

The Passion Of Joan Of Arc

Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer, starring Renee Falconetti, Eugene Silvain. 1928, BW, Silent with English subtitles, 114 minutes. Available for rental at Kensington Video or by purchase from Ignatius Press.

Ernie: It was good to start off with the questions about the English -- it put the whole thing in the framework it needed to be in -- political conflict involving Church figures.

Matthew: It saved it from being the holy hero against the institution of the Church.

Ernie: Even among the churchmen supplied by the enemy, there was division. Three or four of them are moved by her during the course of the investigation. It showed that her holiness was apparent, something that was manifesting itself then, not just something that we've recognized later. You had to try to ignore it for some extraneous reason.

Matthew: The chief judge starts out with an air of condescension, which gradually gives way to rage when he can't trap her, and then, when she recants her confession, he's broken.

Ernie: She's forced his hand.

Matthew: I really liked the scene where she's up there on the stake and the baby pulls away from his mother's breast to look at her. She's innocent, and the baby is innocent, and the baby pulls away from its greatest natural good, just as she's done -- she's just pulled away from the natural good of her life, to respond to something better.

Ernie: A wonderful movie.