Synopsis
Rouen, Normandy, 1431, during the Hundred Years' War. After being captured by French soldiers from an opposing faction, Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orléans, is unjustly tried by an ecclesiastical court overseen by her English enemies.
The Trial of Joan of Arc
1962 ‘Procès de Jeanne d'Arc’ Directed by Robert Bresson
Cast
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Assistant Directors
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Writer
Editor
Cinematography
Camera Operator
Production Design
Art Direction
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Primary Language
Spoken Languages
Alternative Titles
Jeanne d'Arc, Proces Joanny d'Arc, Jeanne d'Arc'ın Yargılanması, Prosessen mot Jeanne d'Arc, Processen mot Jeanne d'Arc, 잔 다르크의 재판, Il processo di Giovanna d'Arco, El proceso de Juana de Arco, Der Prozeß der Jeanne d'Arc, Jeanne D'Arc pere, ジャンヌ・ダルク裁判, 圣女贞德的审判, O Processo de Joana d'Arc, Процесс Жанны д'Арк, Procesul Ioanei d'Arc, Proces Jany z Arcu
Genres
Themes
Releases by Date
Premiere
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France
Cannes Film Festival
11 Feb 1965
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USA
New York City
13 Apr 1967
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Hungary
Filmmúzeum
16 Nov 1998
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Argentina
Mar del Plata Film Festival
09 Mar 2009
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Portugal
Cinemateca Portuguesa
Theatrical
13 Feb 1963
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Sweden
15 Mar 1963
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France
18 Oct 1974
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Finland
16 Nov 2002
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Hong Kong
TV
14 Jun 1965
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Italy
01 Nov 1965
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Germany
Releases by Country
Argentina
16 Nov 1998
- Premiere Mar del Plata Film Festival
Finland
18 Oct 1974
- Theatrical
France
18 May 1962
- Premiere Cannes Film Festival
15 Mar 1963
- Theatrical
Germany
01 Nov 1965
- TV
Hong Kong
16 Nov 2002
- Theatrical
Hungary
13 Apr 1967
- Premiere Filmmúzeum
Italy
14 Jun 1965
- TV
Portugal
09 Mar 2009
- Premiere Cinemateca Portuguesa
Sweden
13 Feb 1963
- Theatrical
USA
11 Feb 1965
- Premiere New York City
Popular reviews
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Having seen now four film depictions of Joan of Arc's trial and execution (600 year old spoilers are not spoilers) and countless other retellings, I am surprised at how powerful the tale remains. There's something about execution that fills me with dread, sorrow, and discomfort, about the submission that comes when someone steps onto the gallows, lays their head on the block, or climbs atop the pile of wood. It's more intense than other depictions of death, in part because of that submission. It is at once horrifying and alluring, this utterly giving of oneself, of control, of fate, unto the hands of others.
That Joan's death is one of pious defiance only serves to make it that much more…
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You come at Carl Theodor Dreyer, and you best not miss. If anyone could do it, it’d be Robert Bresson. He didn’t quite pull his coup off.
Bresson allegedly wanted to create his own, sober, interpretation of the trial of St. Joan; finding Dreyer’s legendary silent version grotesque in its extremities of emotion.
He certainly succeed in filming what is, sentimentally, the polar opposite of Dreyer’s film. Unfortunately, Joan of Arc was a teenage girl — so an excess of emotion seems more justified than its complete absence.
Bresson’s vision of Joan puts a lens on her complete intention of holy focus. While under torture from the allegations of a corrupt Anglophile court, Bresson portrays Joan as dedicated without fail…
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jeanne's life lends itself so easy to melodrama, and that's exactly what dreyer, besson, and rivette made of it, but when you strip away all the histrionic tragedy and ideological baggage that have accumulated over the centuries, which is what bresson does with trial, you're left with the factual resistance of joan's religious experience vs. the relentless constraints placed upon her by her enemies. the film doesn't have to give her the staid mantle of heroism; she simply /is/ the standard-bearer of valorous faith against all forms of abstract tyranny.
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Oh my sweet linen, the greatest director of all time made a film about Noah's wife!!!!!!!!!*
Ok first off this is not "The Devil, Probably", the best film ever made, so let's breath easy.
To those unaware on what is Robert Bresson, Robert Bresson was this bizarre force of nature, which seemed to exist out all of logic of french cinema and it's movements from 1934 to 1984, so no part of the New Wave, or du look or the pre war romanticism. Bresson cinema was austere, brutal and realistic. Having visual influenced thousands but had until 2007 true heirs in the Dardennes Brothers and for some strange reason the writer of Taxi Driver has been bootlegging and cos-playing him…
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Clinical, methodical, mechanical. The trial is presented without melodrama or bias (there are no roaring crowds cheering for Joan's execution, in fact only the odd cry is heard). The cogs of the judicial system turn and 'justice' is served. In contrast to Dreyer's Passion, Bresson utilises medium closeups and edits with an almost spartan minimalism giving the film an almost documentary quality. Verbatim cinema.
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9th Robert Bresson (after Pickpocket, Diary of a Country Priest, Four Nights of a Dreamer, Au Hasard Balthazar, A Gentle Woman, Lancelot du Lac and Les Femmes Du Bois de Boulogne)
A really interesting take on the iconic story of Joan of Arc. Comparisons between this and the Dreyer masterpiece are understandable but unnecessary, for they take an entirely different tack. The Dreyer is interested in the act of sacrifice and the experience of suffering, while Bresson seems to be more preoccupied with the political and moral chicanery at hand. The results are as you would expect from such focuses; one is hyper-intense and highly emotional, the other more stripped back. Personally, the intensity of Dreyer wins out every time;…
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Bresson tries his hand at the infamous tale of Joan and her martyrdom but puts less weight on her self sacrifice and more in her contempt for her judges and the church thus giving us a completely different portrayal from the sad and innocent Falconetti from Dreyer's classic rendition.
Bresson of course is an artist who likes to break rules and strip the medium down to his liking. He has always done this and it has become apart of his appeal. By making this film so short and compact but unlike Dreyer's film which was silent is trying to squeeze interrogation dialogue in, the film proved to be a great challenge. The miracle is it never really felt rushed either…
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Walau kalau dibanding sama The Passion of Joan of Arc masih kalah jauh, tapi dari sisi ketegangan, emosional, dan powerful-nya ngak kalah bedanya. Belum lagi ditambah dengan gaya directing Robert Bresson yang pure cinematic art.
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Historically worded reduction leaves in the ash (reduced wayy too long); at the stake, our words translated, old, and sure; only what was present and what is real. What was pure; I say without any religious connotation, as this story is not a religious one, but a story of human automatism; a story of human automatism where religion is utilised as the tool of human dissection; where society constrained to mechanical regularity cannot wait for emotion to fill fingers; where emotion is only born through resistance; where bodies, faces, and voices do not seem to be theirs. Just look into their eyes; where all ideas are bookish ones; where the things we bring off by chance are invisible; where we are built on white, silence, and stillness; while one is under the influence others are tied up in ancient habits.
A simple creation.
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To say it pales in comparison to The Passion of Joan of Arc is an absurd understatement. It's fine, but there's just no reason for this to exist, honestly.
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Bresson is a top 15 director, regardless of the fact that The Trial of Joan of Arc did not completely work for me. My main concern is that, while the film is thematically rich, it did have very little effect on me, emotionally. Perhaps this is because I cannot help but recall Maria Falconetti’s performance in The Passion of Joan of Arc, which is the greatest example of how to imbue a work of art with pathos. These films probably shouldn’t be compared, and it pains me to do so, but it’s an automatic reaction. I respect the effort to create a different version of the classic story, but to me it comes across as prosaic.
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Historical drama from Robert Bresson. Measured and mechanical, drawing from factual accounts and employing a minimal / realist approach to great effect - placing the viewer squarely, soberly, into the events. A sharp shift from Dreyer’s iconic 1928 interpretation, eschewing broad melodrama in favour of a stark documentary feel. A tale of gross injustice, judgement, rehabilitation, suffering, prosecution, political machinations, sacrifice, purpose, defiance. The voyeuristic monitoring, interrogations and eventual sacrifice are well handled and are genuinely unsettling at times. Bresson utilises non-professional actors really well - adding to that sense of raw realism. Fourneau excels as Bishop Cauchon, while Florence Carrez (aka Delay) absolutely shines in the central role - a teenage fighter and leader who experienced otherworldly visions, without the baggage. A stripped-back, briskly paced and moving interpretation.
Streamed via BFI Player.
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