THE TRIAL OF JOAN OF ARC (Procès de Jeanne
d'Arc)
B
France (65 mi) 1961 d: Robert
Bresson
Bresson, like Carl Dreyer before him, had notorious
difficulties obtaining financing for films, according to film critic Andrew
Sarris. It has been said that “such intransigent individualists as Buñuel
and Stroheim seem like Dale Carnegies by comparison. At least Buñuel and
Stroheim could promise the titillation of shock and sacrilege; Dreyer, like
Bresson, could offer nothing but austerity and eternity.” By paring away
the irrelevant, “flash and fluff” that pads most movies, they hope to lay bare
the human essence of the story, or as Bresson himself once wrote: “You
have to drain the pond to catch the fish.” Certainly this rarely seen
film is one of the most extreme examples of Bresson’s spiritual realism, his
de-dramatizing technique that attempts to capture the actual tone and form of
the original event, Joan of Arc's 1431 trial by the English for heresy at
Rouen, the seat of the English occupation government in France, and her
subsequent execution, using as a basis the actual historical trial
records. That being said, this a most peculiar film, largely due to the
complete impassivity of the actors on the screen. It is startling just
how undramatic, unemotional, and uninvolved they are, just the antithesis of
Dreyer’s 1928 silent film, perhaps one of the greatest films of all time, THE
PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC, which features extreme close ups revealing
extraordinary passion and human emotion. So while that was probably one
of the motivations to differentiate this film, it may not work for everyone and
some may call it a failed experiment, while others may call it visionary.
Bresson makes excellent use of the thundering sound of the
military tympany drum, which is meant to be intimidating when heard, used
exquisitely here at both the beginning and end of the film, almost as if it is
a clear reflection of the unspoken voice of God. While the austerity of
the film is severe, continually showing Joan subject to harsh treatment and
condemnation, with cries of “Burn the witch” heard offscreen throughout, what’s
perhaps forgotten is Joan was a simple farm girl, only 19 and illiterate, who
couldn’t even sign her name, using a cross instead, yet she was resolute and
unwavering, holding her own without the aid of counsel against the finest
educated judges and lawyers from England, demonstrating a remarkable
intellect. Her judges couldn’t fathom that she could realize the divine
by avoiding the church’s aid and instruction, feeling compelled to lecture her
about religious faith, testing her mettle under dire circumstances, forcing her
to show them her divinity. Despite using actual transcripts, what the
film doesn’t show is the duration of the trial, how the many months of
relentless personal assault both in court followed by more interrogation
sessions inside her prison cell, where she was continually spied upon by her
captors, eventually took its toll and physically wore her down. Of
interest, Florence Delay, the university student that played Joan went on the
write novels and narrate Chris Marker’s Sans
Soleil (1983), eventually elected to the Académie Française in 2000.
Bresson’s film is a perfect example of Brechtian theater,
which, of interest, was a rebellion against the German emotional expressionist
theater of the 20’s by attempting to destroy any dramatic illusion of reality,
making it apparent to the audience that they were not witnessing real events
happening before their eyes at that very moment, but were instead sitting in a
theater listening to an account of things that happened in the past in a
certain time in a certain place. Brecht’s epic theater was strictly
historical, reminding the audience that they were getting a report of past
events, very much in a documentary manner. So Brecht eliminated stage
decor, suspense leading to a dramatic climax, and any audience identification
with the characters on stage, allowing no emotional connection, creating a
distance between them, enabling the audience to view the action with a detached
and critical spirit, to see familiar things in a different light. This is
theater of reason, not theater of emotion, or unreason. While this may
work in theory, it all remains pretty grim, and by the end Joan is engulfed in
smoke and fire, while a dove lands and then flies away. The final image
reveals a burnt stake with chains on the ground, smoke rises, and there is a
final abrupt strike of the drum. Dreyer’s last shot showed Joan burning,
where off in the corner one can see a cross, while Bresson’s last shot is a
still shot of the stake, smoldering. The film won the Special Jury Prize
at the Cannes Film Festival in 1962.
