The Legend and Truth of Joan of Arc Saint Joan of Arc is revered by the French as one of the greatest heroines. She was born on January 16, 1412, at the height of the Hundred Years' War, when the French were suffering severe defeats. People were born, died, and the endless war continued. Every Frenchman knew from childhood that when he grew up, he would fight the British. Just like his grandfather, father and older brother fought before him.
By 1427, the British had captured the entire north of France, and the heir to the throne, the Dauphin Charles, fled to Chinon Castle, leaving the perishing country to its fate. The English ruled in the north, the Burgundians in the south. Besieged by the British, Orleans held on, but there was no hope, and it seemed that the French kingdom would perish.
In those terrible days, a peasant girl Joan of Arc came to Chinon, who was destined to change the course of the war. Heading the royal army, she in 1429 lifted the siege of Orleans, defeating the English, and in 1430 – was captured by them, was accused of witchcraft, and on May 14, 1431 – burned at the stake in Rouen. She was only 19 when she died.
Charles VII, indebted to Jeanne, did nothing to save her. For 23 years he remained indifferent to her memory, to the fact that her name was tarnished. Later, when the English were banished and rumors began that the king had received the crown from the hands of a woman whom the Church had burned as a sorceress, a change took place. Charles appealed to the Pope, demanding justice, and soon, at the "Acquittal Trial", Joan's good name was restored. And 450 years later – in 1920, the Catholic Church declared Joan a saint, and since then honors the anniversary of her death on May 30.
The film was conceived in 1921, shortly after its canonization. It took several years to write the script, prepare, and in 1927 began shooting. Behind producer Bernard Nathan, stood the state. National Status provided huge funding (from 8 to 9 million francs), unlimited choice of filming locations, 8,000 extra soldiers, but brought the script into the framework of officialdom. The film was supposed to be “the life of Saint Joan of Arc”, glorifying the heroic past of France.
The filming coordinator was Gaston Brune. The other seven operators: Georges Asselin, Lucien Bellavoine, Jimmy Berliet, Rene Colas, Henry Gondois, Jean Jouannetaud, Ganzli Walter, chose nature. The work lasted for 1.5 years: from June 1927 to October 1928. The original house of Joan d’Arc in Domremi was filmed, and the village scenes were filmed in the town of Carnac. Gilles de Rais Castle and the interiors of Chinon Castle are in Pierphon Castle; the walls of Orleans are in Aigues-Mortes.
The fortifications of Turelli, filmed in Carcassonne, Porte Narbonnaise Saint-Cere, a grandiose panorama of the battle - on the field of Mazames, at Tarn. The abbey, chapel and vaults of Mont Saint-Michel, fit for trial in Rouen. Removing the coronation, got the square in front of Reim Cathedral. Inside the operators were not allowed, but the Archbishop of Reims, Cardinal Louis Henri Joseph Luzon, ordered to dig all the telegraph poles in the district, uproot many trees, so that nothing would interfere with 1200 extras.
It premiered on April 15, 1929 at the Opera in the presence of President Gaston Doumerg. The orchestra and choir were conducted by Joseph-Etienne Schiffer, who composed the music for the film. Success was also in the summer of 1929, at a solemn séance for the 500th anniversary of the liberation of Orleans. Then it turned out that the distributors do not have cameras to show large-format scenes shot by the Hypergonar lens. The panoramic part was remade, but the film stayed at the box office for six months. In French cinema came the sound, and “Jeanne” was not in demand by the audience.
The author's negatives disappeared during the Nazi occupation of France. Rene Lichtig in 1983, created a reconstruction for the French Cinematheque, restoring 2/3 of the film: 125 min. (2904 m) out of 180 (4800 m). But there are no scenes in the alchemical laboratory of Gilles de Rais; the meeting of Jeanne with Baudricourt (actor Marcel Chabrier); a passage before the Orléans campaign, where Jeanne prays in the cathedral for the descent of victory; the battle of Patou, filmed near Strasbourg.
The film makes a great impression. Much like the revived paintings of that era, a real encyclopedia of the Middle Ages, the actors also tried. Especially the 16-year-old Simone Geneva, chosen from 400 applicants. An interesting scene of matchmaking: the actress created “an image that emits light”, or, as they would say in the Middle Ages – “grace”.
Actors play without exaggerated facial expressions. In the audience scene, we see a small, rat-like Carl (J. Debucourt), with running eyes, and fingers like the paws of a spider; Georges Tremuillet (J. Toulou), about whom you can say “look carefully at this face”; Gilles de Rais (F. Eria) - dandy, with an exquisite Florentine beard, and earrings in the ears.
The battle scenes are amazing in scope. Striking attack of Turelli, involving 3,000 soldiers. These are perhaps the most ambitious scenes of silent cinema, and the excerpts in which a wounded Jeanne raises soldiers to storm, and weeps over the fallen are among the most inspired. What's the name of the Geneva game? I think it's asceticism. The actress said: At the audition I was 15, I played in light mail. But on the set of the Battle of Orleans, I had to wear real armor, weighing 22kg. When the shooting day was over, I was so exhausted that I dropped to the ground, and fell asleep without taking off my armor.
The second half of the film is filled with despair and pain. Joan's captivity near Compiègne, mounted at the pace of a hurricane. Good: a scene in the abbey, where corrupt French priests, and their English masters, discuss the upcoming trial, with a predetermined finale; a passage in prison, when the jailers want to abuse Jeanne. The faces of the judges of the Rouen Tribunal are a panopticum by Cesare Lombroso. Jeanne throws her tormentors in the face: You dare not judge me. I am sent by God, I have nothing to do here. Return me to the God from whom I came," and the monk cries, "We are cursed! We burned the saint! Shooting the autodafe scene almost cost Geneva her life. The fire spread to the hood of the actress tied to the pole. Smoldering clothes and horror, forever remained on film.
The film is inferior in skill to “The Passion of Joan of Arc”, but the choice is difficult, despite the mesmerizing skill of Falconetti. Jeanne - Geneva, more interesting, played more spontaneously, vividly and flexibly, moreover, is it played? More like lived. Moreover, the film Gustin, which accommodated both Domremi and the fire, was shot against a historical background, with 1-2 takes, and Dreyer, rejecting the scenery of Herman Varm, shot everything in the studio, using up to 80 takes.
Gustin had an incredible sense of historical context. In the visually and atmospheric medieval world created by him, you unquestionably believe, even specialists are unlikely to get away with blunders in the film. As if the director went on a time machine in the past, to shoot documentary footage. Remarkably shot long scenes, “medieval” music, the text of Jules Michelet, collected in a deliberately archaized script by Jean-Jose Frapp, work on the image, immersing in history. As if you read an old “chronicle”, and behind the words of the chronicle, a legend comes to life. Its super task: to tell about the life of Jeanne, leaving the viewer a feeling of irreparable loss, the film fully fulfills.
9 out of 10