Last night, at 12:45 AM Eastern Standard, Turner Classic Movies showed The Passion of Joan of Arc. I've wanted to see the film for a year or more now, since it is touted as one of the greatest films of all time and perhaps the greatest silent film ever made. It lives up to the reputation.
Released in 1928, when the film industry was very quickly transitioning exclusively to talkies, The Passion of Joan of Arc was a rare last look at the silent genre. For those who aren't familiar with silent films, makeup was for a variety of reasons very common. Orginally necessary due to film stock exposure time, and later used due to habit/aesthetic quality/film's close connection to the theater, makeup was the standard. In this film, however, the director reportedly would not allow any of the actors to use any makeup at all, because he felt that faces had more power as faces alone. In this film especially the results are amazing.
Another interesting thing in this film is the camera work. Almost every single shot is a closeup of somebody's face. Dialogue exchanges and character placement in the scene is suggested only by camera angle and sight lines. For example, a closeup shot of Joan may show her looking up, and a separate shot of a judge looking down really sets the emotional tensity of the scene. This may sound simple enough, but in 1928, closeup shots were not the standard. For a 90 minute film to move at an incredible pace with nearly no shots consisting of anything but faces is unheard of, especially then.
The score that TCM put to the film was epic. It is all Latin, which for such a religiously-charged film makes sense. I think the film was released as part of the Criterion Collection, so if the soundtrack is the same in that release, you people should definitely check it out.
I wish I could describe why this film is so great better in words, but it is something you really just have to see. None of the many articles I have read about it did it any justice. Some films just have to be seen to be understood.
I give it an 11/10.
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