The Trial of Joan of Arc

This minimalist French drama from 1962 does exactly what is says on the tin: it starts with Joan’s interrogation and trial by the Judges, ultimately leading to her being burned at the stake as a ‘lapsed heretic’. In other words, there are no battlefield scenes of the ‘Maid of Orleans’ leading the French army against the English or any other action, merely scenes in which this medieval ‘courtroom drama’ is played out using – as was often the case with director Bresson – a cast of non-professionals.

Using extracts from the official transcript of Joan of Arc’s 15th century trial, Bresson focuses on human suffering and Joan’s undeterred faith in God even when threatened with the gruesome death of being burned alive. The story itself needs no re-telling… several movie versions about the maid who led the French Royal Army to victory against the English at the siege of Orléans (before falling foul of the authorities) have captured the viewers’ imagination over the decades. If there is one significant difference between Bresson’s version and various other cinematic attempts, then it is the minimalist approach used to depict the last weeks of the doomed peasant girl. Florence Carrez (at the time of filming a complete unknown) gives an intense and impressive performance as a young woman who will not budge no matter how devious her male persecutors are. To be fair, the French side (led by French painter Jean-Claude Fourneau as ‘Bishop Cauchon’) is more willing to give Joan a chance to go on living by signing an abjuration whereas the English side (Rouen, where she found her untimely death, was under English rule at the time) had it in for her from the start – in fact, the entire trial was politically motivated and her repeated claims that her visions had instructed her to defeat the English did not go down well at all. Her trial should have been conducted by the church and the church alone – instead, it was the English who imprisoned her under the watchful eye of simple soldiers.

Joan remains steadfast when her accusers ask her why she dresses in men’s clothes and how she can possibly know the voices she hears are from God and not from Satan. Whatever her answers, her accusers find a way of twisting her words – especially by the English priest (Donald O’Bryan) and his ally (Michael Williams). Her feet shackled and confined to her tiny cell when not facing the Judges, it is even suggested at one point the reason as to why she is so headstrong might be because she is still a virgin! In a courtroom filled with men and more men, what chance could she possibly have had? Even when she eventually signed the abjuration under pressure from Cauchon, she changed her mind again a short while later as she refused to wear the dress she was given, prompting one of her English accusers to brand her a ‘lapsed heretic’. Her unwillingness to wear female attire is her undoing for she is then given another dress, in fact it is merely a sack-like gown she is to wear whilst being burned at the stake.

The performances are almost secondary because the film’s strength lies in the dialogue and the suffering of Joan of Arc speaks for itself. That said, the final scene at the stake (she was burnt at the stake on the 30th of May 1431) is somewhat unrealistic as Florence Carrez cuts too wholesome a picture… her hair too clean and her face devoid of dark rings under her eyes or any other physical signs of the torment she endured whilst being imprisoned. Likewise, when two clergymen hold an elongated crucifix in front of the pyre while the embers burn, this scene can only be put down to artistic licence: the heat alone would have prevented the clergymen from standing in front of the pyre for more than a minute! No one really knows for sure what Joan’s age actually was when she died (it is assumed she was 19) – however, we do know for certain that she was a woman, unlike the Joan of Arc in a forthcoming production at London’s Globe Theatre – in which 'they' are depicted as non-binary (two for the price of one).

THE TRIAL OF JOAN OF ARC has just been released in a new restoration on HD Blu-ray as well as iTunes and Amazon Prime.
Bonus Feature includes: An intro to Robert Bresson / audio commentary / propaganda short ‘Women’s Work in Wartime’ (UK 1918), ‘Masculinity in Modes’ (1931) – a 1min fashion showcase, ‘The Legend of Joan of Arc ballet (1958) – a 2mins snippet from the Russian Nikolai Peiko ballet, original trailer, stills gallery and Illustrated booklet.