Speechless. What about the angular planes of the camera, the backgrounds, the takes that complement the true dialogues, the painful features, the pleasant combination of fact and art, and liturgical music? Watching this open leaves aside the simple fact of absorbing historical content, but it becomes, at the same time, an act of understanding the soul Carl T. Dreyer and especially Jeanne D'arc.

Maria Falconetti is simply outstanding in this film; playing the eponymous character who claims she has seen and been sent by God, she delivers a transcendental performance that is overwhelmingly raw and visceral. Shot predominantly in close-ups, the tight framing restricts us to narrowly focus in on her state of fear and immerse us right into the emotional turmoil through which she is suffering. POV shots of the French clergyman ingeniously add to this effect as we experience the fear of the dire circumstances through Joan's eyes. And the fact that Falconetti never acted again only adds to the eeriness of her performance. With cinematography that was way ahead of its time and an incredible score to boot, this is simply a masterpiece of cinema. Far and away one of the greatest silent films ever conceived.

Carl Dreyer's "The Passion of Joan of Arc" is a film that feels light years ahead of its time. Lean and mean, focusing its entire narrative on the interrogation of Joan that inevitably lead to her execution by burning at the stake, the film is kinetic in ways that most films even now aren't. Composed almost completely of tight close ups, Dreyer and crew cut rapidly between disconcerting, asymmetrical shots, giving the film a breathless, anxious, nearly frenzied pace.

Maria Falconetti gives an almost unbelievably intense performance as the title heroine. Her performance, and the film in general, does get a bit monotonous -- it exists primarily of impassioned gazes into the middle distance, giant, tearing eyes opened wide, an expression of passionate, nearly demented religious fervor on her face. It's not a film that concerns itself with characters and plot, so we don't get to know Joan as a person. It's difficult to care for her particular plight and we instead feel compassion for her as one human being feeling compassion for another. For that reason, the film left me remembering its striking images and formal style more than any emotions I might have felt while watching it. But it's no less of a remarkable cinematic achievement for that.

Grade: A