The first time I had seen this film, I watched it in complete and utter silence as Dreyer originally intended it to be. Even without a musical score, the images displayed before me resonated deeply and I knew I was witnessing something to marvel and behold. But yet there always felt like there was something missing in my time thinking back on that first watch. Something I couldn't quite put my finger on that prevented it from "feeling" like a perfect film in my eyes. I was determined that with my rewatch I would seek out the now famous "Visions of Light" score to accompany it to see how musical composition may affect the viewing experience. Well ladies and gentlemen,…

So much has been said about this film already, this is really one of those films that makes me wonder - what is the point of reviewing it at all. Just log it, rate it and forget about it. So, because of that, I'm not reviewing it. I will instead write a little about a once in a lifetime experience I had tonight.

You see, by chance I discovered a small ad in the local paper the other day. It announced that The Passion of Joan of Arc were to be shown, once, at a nearby church, and also accompanied by live organ. Naturally I had to go there.

This church is not very old, about 110 years. And as…

A stunning piece of work made even more so by the added choral score Voices of Light. So beautiful and so haunting. The sounds and images remain with me days after having watched the film and it is something I want to revisit soon.

Falconetti is spectacular as the lead; those giant, emotive eyes sucked me right into the tragic world of Jeanne and they never let go. It's like I was there for the entire ordeal, feeling the sting of the spit from the grotesque D'Estivet's lips; the scissors puling my hair as her head was unceremoniously shaved; and the heat of the flames as they licked up from the pyre. I was wiped by end of it all;…

Simply a few response notes on a film about which so much has been said, and will be said. (Turned out longer than expected.)

This is absolutely the most immersive soundless film I have ever seen. The faces are constantly heart-stirring and the narrow focus of the picture made me feel like I was looking through a tunnel in time back to both 1929 and to 1431

Maria Falconetti's performance is utterly stunning, face often fixed to heaven where her loyalty and attachment lies, her heart swelling with love for her deity even as she is terrified. And she is a somewhat less sane-looking Joan than I had previously contemplated, which actually sparked even more compassion for her. I understand…

This is IMO the best film ever made. I don't know how often I have seen it but every time I watch it I go into a trance. I just got the film on Blu Ray and wanted to check the quality. Well, I got sucked into the film and could not stop. Before I knew it I had watched the whole thing and while I'm writing this it is running again on the screen in front of me.

The face of Maria Falconetti is burned into my soul. She probably never knew that she was acting in (one of) the best film of all time and that she would never ever be forgotten for just this single film role.…

I watched the silent version of this for about twenty minutes before accidentally pushing the audio button on my remote, causing it to switch to the "Voices of Light" musical track. The movie instantly became 100x better. I restarted the film from the beginning and was entranced and in awe for the entire running time. Carl Dreyer is such a good director that even while watching the film in its silent version I could hear the music. His images have an ebb and flow to them that made my mind hear the lovely "Voices of Light" even before I had ever heard those voices. And then when I actually did switch to the musical track, everything came together.

It's so…

The first time I had seen this film, I watched it in complete and utter silence as Dreyer originally intended it to be. Even without a musical score, the images displayed before me resonated deeply and I knew I was witnessing something to marvel and behold. But yet there always felt like there was something missing in my time thinking back on that first watch. Something I couldn't quite put my finger on that prevented it from "feeling" like a perfect film in my eyes. I was determined that with my rewatch I would seek out the now famous "Visions of Light" score to accompany it to see how musical composition may affect the viewing experience. Well ladies and gentlemen,…

I watched The Passion of Joan of Arc for the first time in complete silence and bathed in darkness (There was appropriately a severe thunderstorm going on at the time as well). I viewed it without music, since it was against Dreyer's intention to have a musical score to accompany the images. Even though I know next to nothing about the real Joan, this movie profoundly affected me, and it definitely lived up to the hype! Everything, from Falconetti's legendary and brilliant performance, to Dreyer's direction and camerawork, to the ferocious editing are pitch perfect, and I can see how many other movies have been influenced by or ripped off this film. Just a great, great, great movie!

Has there…

This is IMO the best film ever made. I don't know how often I have seen it but every time I watch it I go into a trance. I just got the film on Blu Ray and wanted to check the quality. Well, I got sucked into the film and could not stop. Before I knew it I had watched the whole thing and while I'm writing this it is running again on the screen in front of me.

The face of Maria Falconetti is burned into my soul. She probably never knew that she was acting in (one of) the best film of all time and that she would never ever be forgotten for just this single film role.…

Falconetti's performance was famously lauded by Pauline Kael as "the finest ever recorded on film." Image Journal's 'Arts and Faith Top 100 Films' lists "The Passion of Joan of Arc" at #1. That level of hype is practically begging for a let-down of a movie-watching experience. Falconetti does not disappoint. Those eyes (particularly in the first half), and that anguish (particularly in the second half) made it impossible to look away. The acting from the others, though often exaggerated and borderline absurd, heightened the sense that Joan's jurors WERE absurd in the way that they were confounded by Joan's sincerity. There are easily a dozen images that I would happily blow-up as stills and frame. The dismissal of Joan's testimony…