Dreyer's silent masterpiece, while not his greatest film, remains his
most intense and single-minded work. Despite subsequent competition
from Rossellini and Bresson, it also remains the finest film version of
the Joan of Arc story. Its subject is the human face, fixed in expressive
close up against austere sets, and shaped to express the subtlest
mysteries of feeling. Marie Falconetti, in her only screen
performance, is deeply moving as Joan; while Dreyer's rapid editing,
influenced by Eisenstein and Pudovkin, has an extraordinary force.
The climax is shattering; the film as a whole is an astonishing vision of
physical cruelty and spiritual exaltation.
