Movie Notes 016: The Trial of Joan of Arc

Santino 2022-02-24 08:02:17

Narrative:
bell footsteps, mother's appeal, drums -> text background introduction -> oath, trial -> back to the cell, wearing shackles and releasing handcuffs and crying -> trial again (recording, hints and other action details) -> being voiced Wake up, someone peeping -> (the statement of the British military officer before the trial, other priests questioned) trial -> self-talk in the cell -> trial -> cell (pick up the stone that smashed her), peeped -> trial -> trial in the cell -> virgin examination -> trial in the cell -> rejection of women's clothing, bells -> trial, internal contradictions between the trial party after trial -> illness -> visit -> trial -> torture to force a confession -> burning to force a confession to sign -> cell Begging for death -> Communion, packing up -> burning at the stake,

stylized treatment of drum sounds : the
state of the characters who deliberately removed the traces of performance (only speaking lines, doing actions, almost no exaggeration and performance);
except for the drum sounds at the beginning and the end, No soundtrack, appropriate sound effects with actions, occasional moderate ambient sound;
multiple fixed camera positions, medium and close-up shots, head-up, everyday feeling, excluding rendering;
audio-visual presentations of characters' words and deeds, and even complete actions that come and go many times, try to do as much as possible The behavior itself is expressed and the emotional processing is diluted, such as a few paragraphs that only focus on the movement of the feet.

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Extended Reading
  • Alyson 2022-04-23 07:04:32

    I can be burned, but not judged. For I am a saint, Joan of Arc.

  • Lori 2022-04-20 09:02:33

    "The Trial Record of Joan of Arc", the whole film is composed entirely of the court scene of Joan of Arc accepting the Inquisition and the torture scene of her generous death, without any extra background introduction and character profiles (even the crowd's voice is only used as background sound appears). The overall restoration of the real history is quite high: the Inquisition's trial of Joan of Arc mainly consisted of labeling her as a "religious heresy" that confuses the public. Through repeated questioning and making things difficult for various details, she denied that she had been inspired by God and God. Grace, tampering with the court record to make up charges (even trying to destroy her divinity and purity through rape), while Joan of Arc responds one by one without emotion, her humanity is more reflected in the face of forced replacement Women's clothing and mood swings before being burned at the stake. The selection of non-professional actors in Bresson's previous films is acceptable, and the performance methods and character design basically correspond, but in this work, I feel that he is too single in character design and mining, and even the performance is somewhat mechanical. Of course, the close-up of Joan of Arc's steps towards the stake and the few whispers of "Jesus" before her death are very moving, but she was still treated too simply when she was only 19 years old when she died.

The Trial of Joan of Arc quotes

  • Jeanne d'Arc: I prefer death to shackles.

  • Jeanne d'Arc: I'd rather die than endure what I'm enduring.