Length: 110 minutes
Director: Carl Theodore Dreyer
Cast: Renee Falconetti, Eugene Silvain, Andre Berley, Maurice Schutz, Sntonin Artaud, Michel Simon, Luis Ravet, Leon Larive, Jaques Arnna, Armand Lurville, Alexandre Mihalesco, Jean d'Yd
Eric's Impressions: Meryl Streep has nothing on Renee Falconetti. As the title character, Falconetti gives one of the silver screen's all-time most memorable performances. I was shocked to find out that the actress never made another film. Maybe she thought she could never top this performance or maybe she just wanted her career to symbolically go up in flames like Joan of Arc. I especially found interesting Dreyer's use of the camera in the scenes with the court deciding Joan's fate as he slowly panned to each member for reactions to what the heroine was telling them as she desperately fought for her life.
Natalie's Impressions: Although I am not sure I would jump to the conclusion that Falconetti's performance in this film is the greatest of any female actress of all time, as many have done, I do believe it is an extraordinary performance. I really liked how most of the dialogue that was included as subtitles in the film was one sided. It was mostly her words as they were recorded so many years ago. It was authentic, realistic and it didn't add a lot of superfluous other dialogue from the other characters to take away from Joan as the central character. It is a shame she never made another film because she sure had a talent to convey a wide range of emotions just using her eyes, which is not something many contemporary actors can accomplish.
COUNTDOWN: Just 969 movies to go!
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