NR | War/Drama | 1 Hour 54 Minutes | $6.00 General Admission/ Members
In the early golden era of movies, one film is hailed universally as the greatest of all: Danish master Carl Theodor Dreyer’s The Passion of St Joan. Spiritual rapture and institutional hypocrisy comes to stark, vivid life in one of the most transcendent masterpieces of the silent era. Chronicling the trial of Joan of Arc in the hours leading up to her execution, Dreyer depicts her torment with startling immediacy and painfully intimate close-ups to immerse viewers in her subjective experience. Indeed, it is the gifted performance of Maria Falconetti (in her second film) as the Maid of Orleans that rises above everything in this artistic achievement. Her haunted face channels both the agony and the ecstasy of martyrdom. Subjected to severe edits and censorship, the original version was believed to be lost for decades; a fire at UFA in Berlin destroyed the master negative and only variations of Dreyer’s second version were available.
Fortunately, in 1981, a hospital janitor found three film canisters in a closet he was cleaning out. They were sent to the Norwegian Film Institute where it was discovered that they were Dreyer’s original cut prior to government or church censorship. Since its re-release, the film and Falconetti’s performance have continued to be praised by critics. The Village Voice ranked it the eighth greatest film of the 20th century in a 2000 poll of critics.
In January 2002, the film was included on the list of the Top 100 Essential Films of All Time by the National Society of Film Critics. In 2008, the prominent French magazine Cahiers du Cinémafilm ranked St Joan 64th on the list of “100 Greatest Films”.
Also Showing: George Melies’ St Joan of Arc (1900)
Live Piano Accompaniment by Marta Waterman