Part of June's BIG PICTURE: CLAIMING HISTORY series
************************************
1h 54m / Not Rated / Silent, Biography, Drama
TRAILER:
VENUE: Historic Duncan Auditorium
*************************************
𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗕𝗶𝗴 𝗣𝗶𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗝𝗼𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗿𝗰 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲, 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗠𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘆 𝗪𝘂𝗿𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘇𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗲 𝗢𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝘆 𝗧𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗮 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗕𝗮𝗹𝗹.
We do not have space here to tell you everything you need to know about the landmark film The Passion of Joan of Arc, much less its subject. Whole fields of historical study have been devoted to Joan, a peasant girl born in a French village during the Hundred Years’ War (which we also do not have space to explain) who led the French to repel an invading English army before being captured by French forces allied with the English, put on trial for heresy, and executed by burning at the stake at the age of around nineteen. She spent hundreds of years as a folk legend before being elevated to the status of a national hero by Napoleon and canonized by the Catholic Church, and at this point we should probably direct you to your local library so you don’t have to take our word for it.
A short eight years after Joan was made a saint, Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer was invited by France to make a film about Joan of Arc — or Catherine de Medici, or Marie Antoinette. His decision to construct a huge and imposing concrete set for Rouen Castle (which barely shows up in the film) and shoot much of the movie in close-up (very rare for silents of that era) was controversial, particularly among the project’s funders. It was a financial flop but luckily for posterity, film history and you, the result was one of the greatest films ever made. Pauline Kael once said that Renée Maria Falconetti’s portrayal as Joan “may be the finest performance ever recorded on film.” It was only the second, and final, film role she would ever take. Like Joan herself, little is indisputably known about Falconetti. But her face and her performance have dominated the popular conception of an iconic national, religious and feminist heroine for nearly a century.
************************************
View the full Big Picture series lineup at
https://tampatheatre.org/movie-categories/bigpicture/
You may also like the following events from Tampa Theatre:
Also check out other
Entertainment events in Tampa,
Performances in Tampa,
Arts events in Tampa.
