Passion of Joan of Arc - Maria Falconetti

Even when it was first released, critics raved about this 1928 silent-film interpretation of Joan of Arc, starring Maria Falconetti. (An analysis, by Mordaunt Hall and published in the New York Times on March 31, 1929) is just one example.

In this scene, Joan learns that she will die in the manner she fears most - by fire. Voices of Light - an oratorio based on the film which Richard Einhorn composed in 1994 - plays in the background.

The following is a translation of the French intertitles:

I have renounced God to save my life.

But Jeanne before the people you recognized that you were inspired by the devil.

You believe always that you are the elect of the Lord?

That answer evokes death.

I did not admit it because of my fear of fire.

Have you anything else to say to us?

We [her confessor and his assistants] have come to prepare you for death.

Is it now...already?

What kind of death?

At the stake.

I am going to look for the sacrament.

Tell me, how can you always believe that you are sent by God?

His ways are not our ways.

Yes, I am his child.

And the great victory?

...my martyrdom!

...and your deliverance?

...death!

See, also:

Falconetti in the death scene from Passion of Joan of Arc.

Credits

Clip from The Passion of Joan of Arc, (La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc), 1928.

Directed by:  Carl Theodor Dreyer (a Dane)

Writtren by:  Joseph Delteil and Carl Theodor Dreyer

Starring Renée Jeanne Falconetti (a/k/a Maria Falconetti) as Jeanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc)

Released on April 21, 1928 in Denmark

Filmed in Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France.