PROCES DE JEANNE D'ARC (1962) B/W 65m dir: Robert Bresson

w/Florence Carrez, Jean-Claude Fourneau, & nonprofessionals

From Georges Sadoul's Dictionary of Films: "Bresson's film, like Dreyer's La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc ..., was based on the actual transcript of the trial and follows Joan's prolonged interrogation, her refusal to submit, and the inevitable burning at the stake. In various interviews Bresson has discussed his film: 'I wanted to make a film that would re-create the visual and aural integrity of the "trial and death of Joan of Arc" ... The problem was that of a film entirely in questions and answers. But I was content to use the monotony like a unified background against which the nuances would be more clearly seen ... Joan's replies to the questions put to her serve not so much to give information about present or past events as to provoke significant reactions on Joan's face, the movements of her soul ... I see her with the eyes of a believer. I believe in the marvelous world whose doors she opens and closes ... One might say she was a more perfect being than we are, more sensitive. She combines her five senses in a new way. She sees her voices. She convinces us of a world at the farthest reach of our faculties. She enters this supernatural world but closes the door behind her.'

"Though Bresson makes considerable use of close-ups of hands, feet, or objects, the film is mainly in medium close-ups of Joan and her judges with their dialogue emphasized by the cross-cutting. Much of the force of this austere film derives from the fugitive facial expressions that this approach reveals, and from the perfect tempo sound track."