Directed by Carl Theodore Dreyer in 1928, The Passion Of Joan Of Arc has rightly stood the test of time as one of the most moving and effecting silent films ever made. The Criterion Collection, who previously released the film on DVD, have now upgraded it to Blu-ray in a disc fairly loaded with features sporting a transfer taken from a new 2k restoration.

Dreyer, maybe not so surprisingly, isn't interested in exploring Joan's heroics and accomplishments. Rather, his film focuses on what happened to her after the siege of Orléans and the crowning of The Dauphin as the King of France. Instead, the movie is far more invested in the trial that took place in which certain French parties loyal to Britain set out to prove Joan no less than a heretic . While the actual trial ran months, Dreyer's film adaptation seems to take place in a single day, though the film is based on the actual transcripts of her trial. As all of this plays out, we see Joan dragged through the ringer in the court, beaten down emotionally and treated no less than abhorrently. Throughout all of this, her courage and bravery remain steadfast.

At the center of all of this great drama is Renee Maria Falconetti, cast in the lead as Joan Of Arc in what was her only leading role. Without the aid of dialogue, she's able to convey so much sincerity, tragedy, sadness, bravery and yes, passion with simple facial expressions that it's easy to forget that you're watching a silent film. The fact that she wears no makeup in the film only accentuates her characters humanity and further cements the film's realism in regards to how it treats its subject. Dreyer discovered Falconetti in a Parisian theater and saw ‘something' in her face. Casting her in the role was a brilliant move, it's hard to imagine anyone embodying the character as insanely effectively as Faloncetti does in this picture. Her work in front of the camera is flawless. The supporting cast is also strong, particularly Antonin Artaud as Jean Massieu and Michel Simon as Jean Lemaître and the dozen or so actors case as judges. But it's Falconetti that the film revolves around and she by far makes the strongest impression.

The film is also visually quite impressive. Dreyer had one massive set built for this production and he had a good budget to do it with. As such, the castle and courtyard setting of the film looks great. It's realistic enough to work but also cinematic in the way that you'd want a set for a movie like this to be. Given that the film was made during the peak of the expressionist movement's popularity, it's to be expected to a certain degree that realism might not be as important as the ‘look' of the film, and it's clear that Dreyer had a very specific aesthetic in mind when making the film. That look is grim and dire, the court setting and its surroundings are never meant to look attractive, there's no attempt on Dreyer's part to paint this is a typical historical drama with typically lush sets.

As fantastic as it looks, however, it's still Falconetti's work in front of the camera that resonates. Interestingly enough, the camerawork doesn't spend too much time showing off the sets. There is no establishing photography here, the entire film is shot in medium and closeup shots, which serves the story well and creates an effective sense of tension and claustrophobia as the trial plays out. The film plays against type in its shooting and its editing, using unexpected angles and cuts to draw us into the storyline and to keep us on guard.

Video:

The Passion Of Joan Of Arc looks very good presented in its original 1.33.1 aspect on the 50GB disc and presented in AVC encoded 1080p high definition taken from a new 2k restoration performed by Gaumont in France. Contrast looks quite good and we get nice, clean whites and solid, inky blacks.

Note that the film is presented in both 20fps and 24fps options on this release. In the extras, a video essay from Casper Tybjerg discusses why this is included and why it's important, essentially boiling it down to the differences in frame rates on silent films and early sound pictures. The 20fps version shows some combing effects that are not present in the 24fps version, which looks better in motion for that reason. Otherwise, the two versions appear to use the same source material, which is not a bad thing at all. There's excellent detail here and a nice absence of compression artifacts, edge enhancement and noise reduction issues.