(Review originally written at 15 December 2007)

What an incredible atmosphere this movie has.

But it's a hard to follow movie. It often difficult to see and understand what is happening on the screen. They didn't put an awful lot of effort into the story. It's as if the movie is only trying to be artistic. So yes, it's definitely a case of style over substance but when the style is such a good and beautiful thing, it's rarely ever a real complaint. Also this style really adds to the nightmarish atmosphere of the entire movie. It's a very surreal expressionistic movie! The movie is also based on a novel by Sheridan Le Fanu. An Irish 19th century writer who would often incorporate his own dreams into his stories.

Especially the camera-work is phenomenal. Is it possible Alfred Hitchcock was also influenced by this movie? I noticed lots of similarities in the camera handling between his work and this movie. Just like an Hitchcock movie, this movie features a lot of staircase shots for instance, which is a part of the build up of the eerie suspense in this movie. The camera moves a lot and captures lots of emotions and elements in one and the same shot, often long, shot.

Otherwise, technically it isn't a very impressive movie. Not only the sound but also the images quality is very poor. There are many '20's movies that are better looking than this one. Appearantly this was all done intentionally to add to the movie its nightmarish atmosphere. Also the style of editing feels 'clumsily' old fashioned, as if Carl Theodor Dreyer was trying to bring us back to the '20's, when German expressionistic masterpieces such as "Faust", "Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari" and "Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens" got made. I personally don't mind Carl Theodor Dreyer doing this, but I can also imaging it scaring away a lot of people. Further more the movie also uses lots of shadows, which always was one of the key aspects in '20's silent movies. Carl Theodor Dreyer always had been a director with an own unusual mind. Hench his previous movie "La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc", that for most part consisted out of only close-ups of the characters.

A not always easy or accessible- but beautiful movie to watch!

7/10

(Review originally written at 20 November 2007)

When you think of a Jeanne d'Arc movie, you don't expect to see a movie based purely- and focusing just on the trial of Jeanne d'Arc. considering the entire life-story of Jeanne d'Arc, it just doesn't seem like the most likely and interesting thing to focus on. It however of course works well for a more deep, serious and realistic approach and or course also in an original way of retelling the story of Jeanne d'Arc. So don't expect to see a strong heroic female lead but a betrayed, broken, emotional one instead.

On top of that, it's a very artistic shot movie, which helps to at all times keep the movie interesting and great to watch.

I'd say that about 70% of the entire movie consist out of close-ups. The faces and facial expressions really tell the story of the movie. The movie was also originally intended to be released without any music, to even more empathize on the faces.

All of the original shots of the movie were considered destroyed and lost forever before release, which forced the director to completely re-make the movie through re-edits of previously rejected shots. But also this versions got soon destroyed by fire. Therefor this movie was long considered a completely lost one, until an original Danish copy of the movie was found again in 1981, in perfect condition, in out of all places, the closet of the janitor in mental institution in Oslo. How weird is that? Stories like this of course also contribute to the movie its legacy.

By todays standards all of the acting performances within the movie can be described as over-the-top. This sort of acting approach was of course however needed in the silent movie era, to make clear to the viewer what the story and the emotions within the story were.

I won't go as far as calling this one of the best silent movie out of history, but it's definitely among the artistic most successful ones!

8/10