Martyr or saint? Body, image and acting style in Dreyer’s La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc and Bresson’s Procès de Jeanne d’Arc

Abstract

ABSTRACT Joan of Arc has inspired many works of art. The iconographical discourse of this artistic tradition is twofold: she is portrayed either as the homeland’s saviour or as a religious virgin. The cinematic adaptations by Carl Th. Dreyer and Robert Bresson – respectively La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc (Dreyer, 1928) and Procès de Jeanne d’Arc (Bresson, 1962) – demonstrate, however, that the latter iconographical image is again twofold. Preferring an inexpressive acting style to emotional expression and fragmented bodily representation to bodily wholeness, Bresson portrays Joan as a saint who excels in faith and quietude. As in the literary tradition of the saint’s vita, Joan transcends the now, the physical and the emotional. In La Passion, Dreyer’s continuous emphasis on suffering and death contributes to the portrait of Joan as a martyr. Along with overt symbolic images, the emotional and facial expressiveness of lead actress Falconetti reflects the intense agony of Christ, who, throughout much of human history, has served as the ultimate example for martyrs themselves and artists, including authors working within the genre of the martyr’s passio. To both Dreyer and Bresson, the figure of Joan serves as a bridge, connecting disappointment with the present to passion for the historical.