Organist Filip Presseisen Musically Impassions The Passion of Joan of Arc

Despite its wide acclaim today, The Passion of Joan of Arc—a film depicting the trial of the national heroine of France, Joan of Arc—faced judgment before its premiere in Apr 1928. Because director Carl Theodor Dreyer was neither Catholic nor French, and then-rumored lead actress Lillian Gish was American, French nationalists were outraged. As early as a full year before its release, critics were furious at this lack of accuracy in production, asserting that “to let this be made in France would be a scandalous abdication of responsibility” (Lost in the Movies). Further, the Archbishop of Paris and French government censors ordered multiple cuts be made to Dreyer’s final version of the film, resulting in several versions of the film scattered throughout history. 

Polish organist and improviser Filip Presseisen is a tour de force in the organ community, with many accolades. In 2015, he won first place at the Improvisation Competition held in Berlin, Germany. In 2016, Presseisen was presented the Antalffy-Preis award for best interpretation of organ musical pieces performed on historical organs in the International Organ Competition in Nuremberg. Not only is Presseisen an exceptional organ improviser, he also lectures at the Pontifical University of John Paul ll and is head of the instrumental section at the Archdiocese School of Music, Level ll, both of which are located in Kraków, Poland. His passion for the organ and musical improvisation translates wonderfully as he accompanies a variety of silent films. His skills and the historic Northrop Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ are sure to be an incredible pairing.

Renée Jeanne Falconetti (also known as Maria Falconetti) was a stage actress when Dreyer cast her as the lead in his film after watching her in an amateur production of La Garçonne. With little film experience before its creation, she still wowed audiences and received acclaim from an array of film critics. Pauline Kael, a distinguished film critic, described how Falconetti’s portrayal of Joan of Arc “may be the finest performance ever recorded on film.” As recently as Jan 2025, Collider called her performance “moving and unforgettable,” naming the film one of “15 Great Movie Biopics About Inspiring Women.” However, even with the highly praised performance, The Passion of Joan of Arc was shockingly Falconetti’s final film role.

The Passion of Joan of Arc was frequently accompanied by various pieces of live music during its screenings in theaters. However, Dreyer never actually chose a definitive score for the film, cited as not “whole-heartedly approving” any of the compositions he was offered—going as far to say he “despised” the 1952 version by Joseph-Marie Lo Duca, the film’s historian. Because of this indecision, the film’s two premieres in Copenhagen and Paris featured two different scores. The Paris score, composed by Léo Pouget and Victor Alix for an orchestra and choir, has since been revived and is still occasionally performed today. Since 1928, many composers have taken the opportunity to derive their own accompaniment for it, placing Presseisen within a long-standing tradition.

One of the defining features of the film is its almost exclusive use of close-ups. This style aims to humanize each character, as the audience gets a front-row seat to each nuanced expression. In addition to this framing, none of the actors wore any makeup in the film, allowing for an even more intimate and natural portrayal of the characters. Dreyer asserted this decision was because bare faces allowed the story to be better told through actors’ expressions, hiding no subtleties. This was made possible by the recent development of panchromatic film in 1904, a type of film that is sensitive to all wavelengths of visible light, allowing for skin to be more accurately captured than ever before.