, Research Paper
The Aesthetics of Passion and Betrayal
In The Passion of Joan of Arc, Carl Theodor Dreyer uses the visuality of spacial relationships in each shooting with the human face and its ability to convey mute emotion in his portraiture of the death of Joan of Arc. Unlike most movie, the message is about wholly told by merely the eyes and looks of the histrions. There is really small trust upon props and background. The camera angles and close-up shot accentuate emotions and reactions. The editing manner is about methodic in maintaining the emotional gait ; it is much like an statement, jumping images of Joan & # 8217 ; s doggedness, and the Judgess & # 8217 ; disdain. The artistic elements of the movie are found in the elusive elements of the scene in contrast with the narrative that is realized by looking into Joan & # 8217 ; s eyes as she witnesses her womb-to-tomb beliefs condemned and destroyed by her martyrdom.
The stylistics of Dreyer & # 8217 ; s vision in The Passion of Joan of Arc are alone in that they can non be characterized by one peculiar conventional manner or definition. Joan & # 8217 ; s beliefs and character are frequently described as being transcendent. Nonnatural manner came approximately in the artistic universe as a manner to portray that which is considered & # 8220 ; Holy & # 8221 ; on a more elevated degree. In many instances, particularly in movie, nonnatural manner can go forth a movie slow in gait, and make a deficiency of empathy for the characters and their predicament. Dreyer hence must non be concentrating on the nonnatural manner entirely since the movie is methodic in gait and the audience easy feels the heartache Joan is sing.
There are at least 2 other major stylistic influences at work in The Passion of Joan of Arc. Harmonizing to Paul Schrader, & # 8220 ; Each of Dreyer & # 8217 ; s single movie & # 8220 ; manners & # 8221 ; is, to be more accurate, a synthesis between three basic and opponent manners at work in his movies. In order to specify Dreyer & # 8217 ; s aesthetic, one must face to opposing artistic schools: the Kammerspiel and Expressionism. & # 8221 ; The Kammerspiel or chamber-play manner dressed ores on merely the rudimentss, puting world forepart and centre. This is most apparent in the concentration Dreyer topographic points in the close ups of the faces. The expressionist manner is less apparent since the power of world is what is most of import. The expressionist elements are found largely in the sets. German Expressionist maestro Hermann Warm who designed the wildly deformed sets of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari designed the sets for The Passion of Joan of Arc. He intentionally created sets without crisp angles to do the backgrounds focus the emotion created by the histrions alternatively of altering or beliing it. The overall stylisation of the movie & # 8217 ; s universe can be taken to bespeak the province of Joan & # 8217 ; s consciousness with the level infinites and switching angles and framing.
The methodological analysis used in hiting the movie besides holds metaphorical significance. There is a great feeling of uncertainness created by the deficiency of accurate deepness. With all the shootings so near up and backgrounds devoid of angles, colour, and mention points, everything on the screen is placed in the same plane visually. The lighting is besides delusory since there are few unequivocal shadows cast to give definition to depth. The Passion of Joan of Arc is non without geometric motives nevertheless. It is perceptibly apparent that even though there are few good defined lines in the sets, when lines do appear, they appear as a brace of lines crossing in crisp angles. This is implicative of the crisp difference in Joan & # 8217 ; s point of view with that of her Judgess.
The spookily evil presence of the Judgess is due in portion to the camera angles. The action of a scene is seldom centered and the action place leaps around from scene to scene. Mocking smiles from the upper left corner and Judgess go forthing Joan & # 8217 ; s cell in the underside left corner. Besides, the low camera angles make the Judgess appear larger and more looming. They appear sheared off at the thorax, doing them seem to drift and glide alternatively of walk.
Carl Theodor Dreyer & # 8217 ; s redaction manner is besides portion of the artistic method that makes the emotional value of The Passion of Joan of Arc so powerful. The deficiency of continuity straight parallels the interior struggle and emotion Joan is experiencing as the Judgess inquiry and condemn her for traveling against the & # 8220 ; Holy Mother Church. & # 8221 ; Of the movie & # 8217 ; s over 15 hundred cuts, less than 30 carry a figure or object over from one shooting to another ; and fewer than 15 cuts constitute echt lucifers on action. Since objects and characters can non be used to associate shootings, there is merely the impersonal white nothingness of the background that remains uninterrupted. It is possible to see the white background as a metaphor for God environing and watching the proceedings.
The histrions in The Passion of Joan of Arc were alone in that they remained in the most natural physical province without make-up or masks. Expressionist movie of the late 1920 & # 8217 ; s normally included histrions that wore thick make-up or masks to befog the single individuality of the character. Since obscureness was the furthest thing from his head, Dreyer used a more & # 8220 ; documental & # 8221 ; attack by utilizing the histrions & # 8217 ; ain faces. To Dreyer, each face contained a wealth of item: craggy ridges, bouffant cheeks, bulblike superciliums, sclerosed warts, and Earths of perspiration. It was the combination of the natural drosss and utmost close ups that produced so much emotion from individual faces. The emotions in the faces of Joan and the Judges are besides of import in demoing the active aggression and the inactive fright in the test. As the Judgess angrily inquire inquiry after inquiry, demanding replies from Joan, the tenseness and fright they create reflects in Joan & # 8217 ; s eyes. The contemplation makes the reaction and fright genuine, and echt fright encompasses even the audience.
As each scene of The Passion of Joan of Arc is played out, there is a world of what truly happened that is portrayed by a great actress who performed merely in this movie. Renee Falconetti & # 8217 ; s public presentation is considered to be one of the finest and most of import public presentations of all time in movie. The prowess besides is the responsibili
ty of the director’s vision, and in reading the original movie screenplay, it is obvious that Dreyer was really specific and knowing about the emotional temper he was seeking to make. While watching the movie, it is sometimes hard to detect specific proficient elements because the ocular content is so across-the-board. However, each scene can be viewed on its ain in add-on to its influence on the whole.
The gap of the movie serves to put up the history behind the narrative. The original test transcript was used in animating the events for the movie. Then, it begins ; the gap scene is a perfect illustration of the usage of irregular camera angles and the place of objects in the shooting. The camera pans across the rear of a big room. The position is odd from the start since the dorsums of the justice & # 8217 ; s caputs are all that is seen. Across the room there are guards, but the centre of the shooting seems placed on their trunk. Those same guards are subsequently viewed by merely their helmets and lances as they leave the room. Our first position of Joan is from above, her figure is placed merely in the bottom tierce of the shooting. She appears really little an laden. The Judgess are looming over her from their platform. Joan & # 8217 ; s face remains inactive and full of emotion from every angle.
Once Joan is condemned to prison, the action goes in two waies. Shootings of Joan interacting with a cross created by the visible radiation of her window in her cell are inter-cut with shootings of the Judgess plotting to lead on her. The same cross is besides used as a mark of the truth when Loiseleur enters the cell to look to be her intimate. His shadow wholly covers the cross as he presents Joan with the false missive from the male monarch. This is one of the few minutes where the set becomes an active portion of the movie.
Another of import scene is in the anguish chamber where the fast and fickle film editing manner is most prevailing in order to make tenseness. It is here where Joan is offered the chance to subscribe the written confession for the first clip. The shootings begin to go on rapidly as Joan refuses to subscribe and the Judgess try to convert her. The camera so pans around the room to see the atrocious devices and signifiers of anguish at the justice & # 8217 ; s disposal to do her confess. The shootings are quickly alternated from the anguish devices, to Joan, and to the Judgess. The scene quickly approaches a flood tide and it so overwhelms Joan that she faints. Shortly afterwards, she is returned to her cell where her caretakers are told that under no fortunes should she be allowed to decease a natural decease. The words are few, but are about every bit powerful as the images in showing the sum of disdain Joan had to face.
The power and pragmatism of Falconetti & # 8217 ; s public presentation is apparent as she is placed in forepart of a crowd to recant as a evildoer and submit to the justice & # 8217 ; s wants. She appears dog-tired and unsure of what is existent any longer. Her face shows a lost conflict as her manus is guided to subscribe the confession. She realizes she can non win no affair how true she is to herself. To watch Falconetti be carried to subscribe away everything she has believed in is to experience the subjugation Joan felt in her lost conflict for truth. It is subsequently that she realizes she has betrayed herself & # 8211 ; a wickedness much greater than the treachery of the & # 8220 ; Holy Mother Church. & # 8221 ; It is at this point the cargo in her eyes is read as credence of her martyrdom and at the same clip expectancy of the freedom it will convey to her.
As Joan is prepared for decease in her concluding hours, shootings of the assemblage crowds are placed between the shootings of Joan in an attempt to demo that she is non genuinely entirely in her beliefs. She will non decease without go forthing an influence. The shootings of the crowd are alone because they are viewed running inverted into the square from high above on an arch. This position sets up the futility the people will confront every bit Joan every bit burned as they fight back stating & # 8220 ; You have killed a saint! & # 8221 ;
Whether or non something is considered art is extremely dependent upon the point of position of the perceiver. Art can be defined as the usage of accomplishment and creativeness to bring forth aesthetic plants. Carl Theodor Dreyer was non conventional by any agencies in making The Passion of Joan of Arc. He melded nonnatural and expressionist manners, every bit good as mise en scene elements to make a movie that non merely tells a narrative, but besides engenders emotional engagement in the spectator. His proficient methods were besides different with an fickle redaction manner to bring forth tenseness and the anomalous arrangement of the characters and objects in the shooting. He besides defied the conventions of the clip by utilizing histrions with natural faces unchanged by make-up, and utmost close-up shootings for a realistic feeling of the power in the portraiture. Art frequently comes from a looking at things in a different manner or from a different angle. Dreyer did precisely this in his portraiture of the test of Joan of Arc.
For me The Passion of Joan of Arc was artistic because it was powerful emotionally, and accurate in its typical attack to the narrative of a saint. The subjugation displayed by the Judgess made anger an easy emotion to experience. The emotions can besides embrace the ideals the Judgess represent. I found it easy to experience anger towards faith as a whole, but it besides made me believe about Joan & # 8217 ; s predicament and what might hold been done to accept her. In my sentiment that is what art does best ; it makes you think about your ain ideals and how your emotions affect your position of the universe around you.
Bibliography
The Aesthetics of Passion and Betrayal
Bibliographic Information
? Carl Theodor Dreyer, Four Screenplays ; Translated by Oliver Stallybrass
? 1970 by Indiana University Press, Bloomington
? Paul Schrader, Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer
? 1972 by University of California Press, Berkeley
? W.S. Scott, The Trial of Joan of Arc
? 1956 by The Folio Society, London
? David Bordwell, The Films of Carl-Theodor Dreyer
? 1981 by University of California Press, Berkeley
