FREE ON YOUTUBE Carl Thoedor Dreyer - The Passion Of Joan Of Arc

FREE ON YOUTUBE (DU FINDEST DEN GANZEN FILM FREI AUF YOUTUBE) During the silent movie era the filmmakers believed they could show the essence of a character through his eyes. Dreyer shows us the face of Renee Maria Falconetti - an experience to understand the entire era of silent film. Falconetti was discovered by Dreyer on the stage of a Paris boulevard theatre. She only appeared in one film, called The passion of Joan of Arc. Although Dreyer saw her in a light comedy, he did screen tests and found what he hoped for: simplicity, truthfulness and suffering. In Kobenhagen you can see the unusual buildings Dreyer had made for the film in the museum today. Dreyer asked for a single piece with movable walls for the cameras, four towers and some chapels as well as the court. Everything seems disharmonic, but no wonder, because Dreyer's film was made at the height of German Expressionism and the Parisian avant-garde. While we experience the story of the simple woman from the country who, disguised as a boy, leads the French troops against the British enemy, we never see the whole set in the film, always only parts of it. Dreyer's editing is equally astonishing, as it doesn't put the characters in relation to each other, but often tries exactly the opposite. Dreyer's film seems more like a series of single pictures. Often they contrast; thus we see the face of the inquisitor in glistening white, while that of Jeanne appears in soft grey. Her impassive face suggests that everything that happens leaves the movie far behind. We can't expect any answers. Dreyer's technique of focusing her face in this way avoids the genre of the historical drama, the epic. That's why he is never interested in the costumes (although they are authentic). All the expression of the film, we find it in Falconetti's face! Our affection for Jeanne, she grows into monstrosity by hoping to discover so much mystery and passion in her eyes. The images of the film resemble her feelings, they seem cold, exhausted, almost starved. Maybe that's Dreyer's secret: The passion of Joan of Arc is a film about the nightmare of their emotional world - and nothing else.