Passion of Joan of Arc burns on

Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1928 biopic of the French heroine ranks as one of the best films ever made, says Pádraic Killeen

CARL Theodor Dreyer’s 1928 masterpiece, The Passion of Joan of Arc, is one of the highlights of the 23rd Cork French Film Festival, this week. Regarded as one of the greatest films ever, it is silent and distinguished by lyrical camera-work and the astonishing lead performance of Maria Falconetti. Based on transcripts from the 15th century trial, Dreyer’s narrative centres on the redemptive spirituality of this young woman of faith in the face of torture and treachery. She is executed. The film’s screening in the evocative Triskel Christchurch will be accompanied by a live score by Cork composer Irene Buckley. The commissioned score is based around the structure of the requiem Mass.

The ‘cine-concert’ will be preceded by a lecture by French film historian Jonathan Broda on the film’s significance. Broda, a lecturer at the Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris, is an expert on the work of Dreyer, a Dane. The Passion of Joan of Arc, he says, is “one of the ten most important movies in the history of cinema.”