Digital Program for "The Passion of Joan of Arc" Featuring Filip Presseisen at Northrop Apr 6-13, 2025

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Top image: Film still. Public domain.

Duration: 120 minutes, followed by a 20-minute Q&A with Dr. Filip Presseisen

The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

“Spiritual rapture and institutional hypocrisy come to stark, vivid life in one of the most transcendent masterpieces of the silent era. Chronicling the trial of Joan of Arc in the hours leading up to her execution, Danish master Carl Theodor Dreyer depicts her torment with startling immediacy, employing an array of techniques—expressionistic lighting, interconnected sets, painfully intimate close-ups—to immerse viewers in her subjective experience. Anchoring Dreyer’s audacious formal experimentation is a legendary performance by Renée Falconetti, whose haunted face channels both the agony and the ecstasy of martyrdom.”

—The Criterion Collection (opens in new tab)

Film Credits

Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer
Screenplay: Carl Theodor Dreyer & Joseph Delteil
Historical Adviser: Pierre Champion
Director of Photography: Rudolph Maté
Art Director: Hermann Warm
Production Designer: Jean Hugo
Editor: Carl Theodor Dreyer
Costumes: Valentine Hugo

Cast

Renée Falconetti as Jeanne
Eugène Silvain as Pierre Cauchon
André Berley as Jean d’Estivet
Maurice Schutz as Nicolas Loyseleur
Antonin Artaud as Jean Massieu
Michel Simon as Jean Lemaître
Jean d’Yd as Guillaume Erard
Louis  Ravet as Jean Beaupère

Additional Credits on IMDb (opens in new tab)

A Little Background Info

One of the most courageous women of French history, Joan of Arc (1412–1431) was a young peasant who played a pivotal role in the Hundred Years' War by leading French forces to victory against the English, regaining the city of Orléans and securing Charles VII’s coronation as King of France. Despite her military success and inspirational leadership, she was captured by the English and their allies, put on trial for heresy and cross-dressing, and burned at the stake. Her trial highlighted the precarious role of women who defied societal norms. Though condemned in 1431, she was later canonized as a saint in 1905 and remains a revered symbol of French patriotism and courage.

Learn more via The Library of Congress - French Women & Feminists in History: A Resource Guide on Joan of Arc (opens in new tab)

A defining feature of The Passion of Joan of Arc is its almost exclusive use of close-ups. This style aims to humanize each character, as the audience gets a front-row seat to every nuanced expression. Additionally, none of the actors wore any makeup in the film, allowing for an even more intimate and natural portrayal of the historical figures. Dreyer made this decision to ensure that actors’ expressions conveyed the raw emotion of the story without losing any subtleties. The early 1900s-development of panchromatic film, a type of film that is sensitive to all wavelengths of visible light, captured skin more accurately than ever before.

—From the Northrop Blog

Director’s Note

“The virgin of Orleans and those matters that surrounded her death began to interest me when the shepherd girl’s canonization in 1920* once again drew the attention of the public-at-large to the events and actions involving her—and not only in France. In addition to Bernard Shaw’s ironical play, Anatole France’s learned thesis aroused great interest, too. The more familiar I became with the historical material, the more anxious I became to attempt to re-create the most important periods of the virgin’s life in the form of a film.

Even beforehand, I was aware that this project made specific demands. Handling the theme on the level of a costume film would probably have permitted a portrayal of the cultural epoch of the fifteenth century, but would have merely resulted in a comparison with other epochs. What counted was getting the spectator absorbed in the past; the means were multifarious and new.

A thorough study of the documents from the rehabilitation process was necessary; I did not study the clothes of the time, and things like that. The year of the event seemed as inessential to me as its distance from the present. I wanted to interpret a hymn to the triumph of the soul over life. What streams out to the possibly moved spectator in strange close-ups is not accidentally chosen. All these pictures express the character of the person they show and the spirit of that time. In order to give the truth, I dispensed with ‘beautification.’ My actors were not allowed to touch makeup and powder puffs. I also broke with the traditions of constructing a set. Right from the beginning of shooting, I let the scene architects build all the sets and make all the other preparations, and from the first to the last scene everything was shot in the right order. Rudolf Maté, who manned the camera, understood the demands of psychological drama in the close-ups and he gave me what I wanted, my feeling and my thought: realized mysticism.

But in Falconetti, who plays Joan, I found what I might, with very bold expression, allow myself to call ‘the martyr’s reincarnation.’”

—Carl Theodor Dreyer, The Criterion Collection: “Realized Mysticism in The Passion of Joan of Arc”

A scene from the silent film "The Passion of Joan of Arc" showing one person holding a large cross while another looks on.

Film still. Public domain.

Filip Presseisen. Photo © Michal-Szalkiewicz.

Filip Presseisen

Filip Presseisen is a sought-after organist who has performed solo recitals at major venues in his native Poland and throughout Europe. In addition to traditional organ concerts, he often performs organ improvisation to accompany silent classic films. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with numerous vocal and instrumental ensembles such as Flores Rosarum, Kantorei Sankt Barbara, and The Cracow Singers. Presseisen serves as head of the Instrumental Department at the Archdiocesan School of Music in Kraków, Poland, and also presides over the Archdiocesan Organ Building Committee.

Presseisen is the winner of the 2015 International Cinema Organ Competition in Berlin, Germany, as well as the first-prize recipient at the Feliks Nowowiejski International Organ Competition in Poznań, Poland. At the 2017 International Musica Sacra Organ Competition in Nuremberg, Germany, Presseisen won the prestigious Antalffy-Preis award for the best performance on a historical organ. In 2019, Presseisen took second prize at the International Organ Improvisation Competition in Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany, while winning the audience award.

Presseisen earned his master’s degree from the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, Poland, where he studied organ with one of the most notable Polish organ virtuosos, Professor Andrew Chorosinski. In 2020, Presseisen earned a PhD from the Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań, where he researched the art of improvisation in the context of silent movies. As an educator, Presseisen was recognized by the Polish Center of Fine Arts Education in 2015 for his innovative syllabus for teaching organ students at the high school level. This program is now considered a model for secondary music schools nationwide.

Northrop Acknowledgments

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

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