The 1928 film "The Passion of Joan of Arc" (La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc), directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer, written by Joseph Delteil, and with cinematography by Rudolph Maté, has just entered the public domain in the United States. So, let's take this opportunity to rediscover the film and explore the inspirations it can offer.
Featuring sets designed by Hermann Warm (production designer for "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari") and Jean Hugo, as well as costumes by artist Valentine Hugo (Jean's wife), this French silent historical film is a portrayal of the 15th-century trial and execution of Joan of Arc, based on actual records.
Renée Jeanne "Maria" Falconetti plays the role of Joan, supported by a cast including Eugène Silvain as Pierre Cauchon, André Berley as Jean d'Estivet, Maurice Schutz as Nicolas Loyseleur, and French playwright Antonin Artaud as the monk Jean Massieu.
Considered a cinematic landmark, the film stands out for its production, Dreyer's direction, and Falconetti's performance, often acknowledged as one of the finest in the history of cinema.
The narrative unfolds during Joan of Arc's captivity by the English, detailing her trial and execution. After leading the French in battles against the English during the Hundred Years' War, Joan is captured near Compiegne and brought to Rouen to face trial for heresy by French clergymen loyal to the English.
In May 1431, she faces interrogation by the French clerical court. Judges aligned with the Burgundian-English coalition try to discredit her, but Joan remains fim in her unwavering belief in her divine mission to drive the English from France. Some, believing in her sanctity, lend their support.
Threatened with burning at the stake, Joan allows a priest to guide her hand in signing a confession. Sentenced to life imprisonment, Joan realizes her betrayal to God and recants her confession.
Dressed in sackcloth, she is taken to the execution site, after she is permitted a final communion mass. As the crowd witnesses her burning and the flames engulf her, people recognize her true faith and proclaim her a saint, and soon chaos ensues among the troops and spectators.
Dreyer's meticulous research, based on original trial transcripts condensing 29 interrogations made over 18 months into one intense day, contributes to the film's historical authenticity.
There's also a great architectural twist in this film: the concrete set, meticulously modeled after medieval architecture to authentically represent the Rouen prison, was one of the most expensive ever created for a European film at that time.
Indeed, Dreyer undertook the ambitious task of building an enormous octagonal concrete structure, resembling Rouen Castle, that offered him the chance to play with geometrized interiors.
Inspired by medieval miniatures, Hermann Warm and Jean Hugo incorporated unnatural angles, diagonal lines and perspectives to reflect Joan's emotional state (Joel Coen did the same in "Macbeth").
Their designs drew from accurate architectural drawings found in medieval manuscripts, including John Mandeville's "Livre de Merveilles".
The massive set was constructed as a unified, interconnected structure, featuring towers, concrete walls, and a functional drawbridge.
Each wall, with a thickness of 10 centimeters, was designed to bear the weight of actors, technicians, and equipment. The set included small houses, a courtyard for the burning scene, and a cathedral.
To achieve the desired visual effect in the black and white film, the entire set was painted pink (this could actually be a great inspiration for an essay about pink sets and architectures from Alice Waddington's "Paradise Hills"'s pink brutalism and the all-pink set in Barbie's 2023 film to Ricardo Bofill's Muralla Roja), a shade that allowed the director to create a contrasting appearance against the white sky.
However, the film's historical significance primarily stems from its innovative use of close-ups (the film is almost entirely made of close-ups).
The camerawork in "The Passion of Joan of Arc" deviated indeed from convention by emphasizing the actors' facial features in a radical manner.
Dreyer opted against allowing his actors to wear makeup and employed low-angle shots of Joan's persecutors to portray them as grotesque and intimidating.
Special holes were even dug in the set to facilitate filming from specific angles, showcasing Dreyer's visionary approach.
While the use of close-ups and unconventional tilted angles was not entirely unprecedented, Dreyer's execution felt groundbreaking, especially the shots revealing only the eyes at the bottom of the frame.
Besides, here the close-ups have a specific aim, immersing viewers in the minds and emotions of Joan, her accusers, the clerical judiciary and trial participants.
Falconetti's eyes express a wide range of emotions, from fear and anxiety to pain, sorrow, but also joy and faith, glory, religious exaltation and heavenly visions, compared to the cold, mischievous and hateful stares of the petty and mean men interrogating her. The film achieved iconic status in cinematic history for Falconetti's emotionally charged performance and her sculptural acting style.
Another interesting trick is the horizontal mobile camera that offers us the point of view of the main character, but also gives an added dynamism to the narrative, expanding a scene and offering a fluid perspective.
By moving from left to right, the camera reveals all the people – judges, theologians, soldiers, servants and observers – who have convened to the trial.
The movement is fascinating and seems to replicate the rhythm of visual narratives that we may find in large paintings or in large textile pieces like the Bayeux Tapestry.
As the film progresses, close-ups intensify: they magnify the pain, while also confining it to the frame, making it symbolically unbearable.
Besides, the director also lets the camera linger on some symbolic details: the worms in the empty orbit of a skull point at death, but this memento mori note is not addressed to Joan, but to the men who condemn her to the stake.
Fashion-wise there is a stark contrast between the ecclesiastical figures, monks, and examining judgeds donning thick capes and ecclesiastical robes matched with felt hats, and Joan, who defiantly wears humble men's clothing – a dusty doublet paired with slacks, her ankles bound by chains.
This departure from traditional women's attire becomes a focal point for her examiners, sparking a crisis that questions her identity as Joan's disregard of gender norms enrages the judges.
in the trial transcripts Joan's male attire was indeed interpreted as a usurpation of male authority, and turned into a pivotal moment in her interrogation. Joan's deviation from societal expectations of feminine conduct led her prosecutors to question both her virtue and the credibility of her assertions.
The men interrogating her are perplexed and fixated on her choice of clothing. One of them boldly asks if it is God who instructed her to don men's attire, to which Joan nods affirmatively.
However, the obsession with her clothing persists, and they circle back to the issue, and Joan is asked if she will abandon her male attire if she is permitted to hear mass.
Soon wearing men's clothing, something that Joan used as a means to express her identity as a military leader or convey her intentional celibacy, turns into one among the various accusations brought against her.
The garments she wears become a tool of manipulation, branded as "immodest garb" and "abominable to God." Her steadfast insistence on wearing them – and on wearing them during mass, in particular – leads her accusers to denounce her as not "a daughter of God" but "a servant of Satan".
In the history of fashion, whenever armors appeared on the runways, fashion critics often mentioned Joan of Arc. The latest instance was Balenciaga's A/W 23 Haute Couture collection: showcased in Paris in July 2023, it featured a 3D-printed armor dress crafted from galvanised resin and polished to a chrome finish, a design that symbolized a convergence of classical craftsmanship and cutting-edge technology. In an interview with Vogue, Balenciaga's creative director Demna Gvasalia, remarked that perhaps Joan of Arc might have avoided persecution for wearing men's clothes if she had donned the 3D-printed armor dress presented in the collection (View this photo).
Yet in this film Joan is not wearing an elaborate armor, but humble clothing that reflects internal strength. We see her once wearing a crown made of reed and holding an arrow, in a pose reminiscent of "Ecce Homo" representations, something that turns her into a Christ-like figure (but all her visissitudes, from the trial to her death, replicate the passion of Jesus).
Joan's attire stands in stark contrast to the imposing robes worn by the ecclesiastical figures, the thick and coarse fabrics of their attires often pointing at protection. Yet these figures are also metaphorically protected by their arrogance that they use as a shield against Joan (one of her interrogators projects their own superiority and haughtiness upon Joan when, commenting on the fact that they can't seem to convince her to confess to heresy, he states "This woman's arrogance is outrageous").
The head of the guards seems instead almost a comical character: he wears a jacket that seems to have traces of tailor's chalk or of a basting stitch as if it weren't finished, and a metal chain adorns it, almost to symbolize his function through clothes (View this photo).
Joan's simple clothes emphasize humility over grandiosity: the juxtaposition of Joan's modest attire with the ample and voluminous (rather than rich) robes of her accusers, challenges the conventional visual representation of Joan of Arc, prompting reflection on the essence of strength, resilience and identity.
This could serve actually as an inspiration for fashion and prompts an exploration of the transformative power of clothing in expressing inner strength in the face of life's challenges.
At the very end of the film Joan wears another humble garment, a sackcloth tunic in which she is burnt at the stake. This humble garment symbolizes her ultimate sacrifice, as her soul ascends to the heavens, triumphing over the oppressive clerics. This poignant scene can be interpreted as a metaphorical stance against tyranny, emphasizing Joan's strength and the enduring spirit of those who resist unjust authority.
So, as you can see there are plenty of inspirations to take from this film and, to discover further ones, you can download the movie from Archive.org or watch it at the end of this post.
Rispondi