When it comes to silent films, the rustic amusing of "The Gardener" and the comedic conflicting visuals of Chaplin's films often amaze us at the artistic charm of silent films. In 1927, the American Warner Company had already made the world's first sound film "Jazz King".
The King of Jazz
However, at a time when the United States on the other side was brewing the heyday of Hollywood/announcing the end of the silent film era, the avant-garde film movement swept across the Continent in full swing (of course, this division of artistic expression in the United States and Europe continues to this day).
An international creative trend emerged, spanning the borders of European countries – mixing German Expressionism (scene scheduling), French Impressionism (camera movement), and Soviet montage (lens assemblage) in one film. This is, of course, a deliberate innovation in the context of the "decline of the art film movement" and "the United States seized absolute market share in World War I", and at the same time, it is also an artistic self-consciousness.
The collage of this technique embodies the most unique aesthetic style in a work directed by Danish director Carl Delais, The Passion of Joan of Arc, reaching the pinnacle of the silent film period.
The Passion of Joan of Arc
The artist of the film is Hermann Worm, who is famous for his "The Cabin of Dr. Carrigally" (a masterpiece of German Expressionism), and the photographer is the Frenchman Rudolf Matei.
Dr. Caligari's Cabin
Joan of Arc did have a man in history.
The screenplay of the film directly uses the record of the real dialogue of the judge during the interrogation of Joan of Arc in the historical documents (in order to enhance the dramatic effect, some deletions and compressions were made). And Joan of Arc in the film is not always imposing, she also shows timidity and self-doubt, and she is also frightened to faint because of the punishment, and she has also signed the trial book to save her life.
The Passion of Joan of Arc Joan of Arc
Dreier insisted on his realist style, rejecting facial makeup, rejecting wigs, and rejecting ornate ornaments.
Joan of Arc's hair is actually shaved off in the film
Joan of Arc's character Maria Fao Connetti contributed to the first and last brilliant screen performance of her career, and the boundless torment she displayed in the face of pain was self-contained—the restrained look from which she endured the severe pain of her knees on the set, and the sadness she interpreted over and over again.
Such Joan of Arc is real and three-dimensional, and on that stubbornly raised face emits a saint-like pure and resolute figure arc (the polysemic interpretation space of the face).
Dreier even built the largest and most extravagant miniature castle set in Europe at the time (the Danish Film Museum in Copenhagen still has a model of the scene) with the help of Hermann Worm, although the small amount of presentation in the film makes one wonder if this was necessary.
At the same time, the film pays attention to the scene scheduling of a single shot, and juxtaposes the symbols in the deep shots to adapt to the visual performance of the characters' psychology and spirit.
Bazin likens the film to "a marvelous mural made up of heads" and "a documentary of faces." The entire film is presented in close-ups and subtle facial changes, conveying a sense of human alienation in the gray background.
The most exciting and largest passage in the film is Joan of Arc's verbal battle with the bishop, showing the piousness and relief of the illiterate national heroine when faced with the prison of words.
"Are you sure you'll be rescued?"
"Yes"
"So you mean you're atoning for your sins?"
"If I am, ask God to continue to forgive me. If I'm not, ask God to give it to me. ”
Joan of Arc's face was always looking upwards at the bishop and the judge (a silent trained gesture), while these executioners were always facing him face down (aggressive in motion), and the visual aesthetic between movement/stillness and pitch/tilt showed "the clash of wills between men" (Howard Lawson).
The Crucifixion of Joan of Arc Bishops
The camera faces Joan of Arc, listening clearly and visibly to the decay of her body and the rebirth of her soul. Isn't this the "self" in the mirror? A trial is a re-washing of the original holy mind, an emotional resonance achieved by Dreyer's apt use of the "Kuryshov effect."
Such performances and phrases that are directly facing the camera and intentionally or unintentionally ignoring the positive and negative hits that bring about a smooth plot appear in Azu Yasujiro's films;
《Akito no Miyoshi》 Yasujiro Ozu
The technique of close-up faces was used as the main technique in the 2018 Taiwanese documentary "Your Face", which can not but be said to be a kind of promotion of the film's overture.
"Your Face"
In that passage in the torture chamber, shots of various torture devices and close-ups of Joan of Arc's desperate face appear quickly one after another, while the pen falls from her hand, increasing our understanding of the polymorphic elements of her entire state (Krakauer);
The passage at the execution ground cross-edits Joan of Arc's footage on the burning table with footage of a nursing mother, a soldier with a gun, and a crowded and angry monastic crowd. These two passages, combined with a solemn symphony of rhythmic alignment, are edited into a tragic visual symphony on the screen.
This "juggling montage" plays a huge psychological compensation role in the film, accurately stimulating the audience's senses and psychology. The classic passage of the "Odessa Ladder" in Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin in 1925 was thus greatly successful as a metaphor for thoughts and emotions.
Battleship Potemkin
The film seems to have a single technique, but there are many meaningful details in the religious color of the unified style. The bishop who questioned Joan of Arc, "Does God have an aura on his head?" to the right one lap left on his head;
When someone defended Joan of Arc, her face was no longer raised like a scrutiny, but looked up;
In the close-up, her expression goes through the stage of "dazed--fear-despair--relief"...
In the film, the bishops have challenged Joan of Arc about her men's clothing, which is not only in line with real history, but also an age-old issue: Does the woman's men's clothing/woman's strength as a man touch the sensitive nerves of those in power? Are women in the patriarchal power powerless to resist? How can these hypocritical parental figures not be the object of vigilance in any era? Is faith not worth mentioning?
When the sound enters the film in an unstoppable posture, the previous film technique has to be repeated. If there is any regret in The Passion of Joan of Arc, it is more or less acknowledged - the occasional subtitle card destroys the rhythm and atmosphere of the film to some extent.
But this "hard wound" is not intentional by the director, but a helpless move under the pressure of many opponents protesting the application of the new technology of voice. It finally brought the end of the silent film era to a perfect end, while justifying the arrival of the voice with its spirit of sacrifice.
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