• Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
  
• Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
• Resolution: 1080p/24 (24Hz)
  
• Audio Codec: LPCM 2.0 Stereo (48kHz/16-bit)
  
• Subtitles: English
  
• Subtitles Color: White
  
• Region: B (Region-Locked)
• Certification: PG
  
• Run Time: 97 Mins./84 Mins.
  
• Discs: 2 (1 x Blu-ray + 1 x DVD) or (1 x Blu-ray) (Blu-ray-only edition)
  
• Studio: Eureka Entertainment
  
• Blu-ray Release Date: November 19, 2012
• RRP: £20.42; £30.63 (Steelbook)
  

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Overall
[Rating:4.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:4/5]

Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures

(All TheaterByte screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG at 100% quality setting and are meant as a general representation of the content. They do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)

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The Film

[Rating:5/5]

An undisputed masterpiece of the cinema, Danish filmmaker Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1928 film The Passion of Joan of Arc (La passion de Jeanne d’Arc) is widely held to be his crowing achievement. A transcendent film about Jeanne d’Arc that surpasses any that have come after it, Dreyer’s silent film culled from the original transcripts of her trial a screenplay that was visually poetic, intense, and emotionally riveting. The portrayal from Renée Maria Falconetti as Jeanne d’Arc held so much beauty, grace, and gravitas it could never be surpassed; so much so that Falconetti would never perform in another film again. Dreyer follows the story of her trial by a group of aged old men straight through to her eventual execution, his sustained use of close-ups and little wide-angel shots thrusting us right into the middle of history. It’s a personal view of Jeanne d’Arc in a stylized world, the set, a complete city built solely for the shooting of the film, stark and white, like souls being laid bare. The film escapes the boundaries of religion, politics, or even time, compressing the year-long tragic circumstances into what seems like merely a day, but manages to burn unforgettable images into our minds. The churning of torture devices, the cranking of a chain moving through the frame, and always, the angelic face of Falconetti’s Jeanne d’Arc plaintively, mournfully, bearing the burdens of a cruel fate.

Video Quality

[Rating:4/5]

‘This edition of The Passion of Joan of Arc was sourced from a 35mm dupe negative made from the original 1928 Danish preservation materials held at the Danish Film Institute. The film was scanned at 2K resolution on a pin-registered Arriscan film scanner and graded on a Nucoda Film Master.

Restoration work was completed in 1080Psf HD resolution using a combination of software tools and techniques. Thousands of incidences of dirt, scratches, and debris were painstakingly removed frame by frame. Warped, damaged, or missing frames were removed or reduced, and density issues exhibited through excessive flicker were significantly improved. Stability issues demonstrated through bumps on film joins and dipping frame lines were also reduced. Throughout the restoration process, work was performed carefully to ensure that the film’s original grain structure remained unaffected. ‘

Given the film’s age and provenance, this is actually an outstanding transfer being issued by Eureka’s Masters of Cinema series. Even before reading through the meticulous booklet provided with this release, my preference leaned toward the 20 FPS version over the 24 FPS version. It wasn’t until after that I read the 20 FPS version is supposedly the one more widely held to be Dreyer’s preferred frame rate for the film’s display. The 24 FPS looks too quick to my eyes and puts one in an almost agitated mindset. It doesn’t help that the accompanying optional score by avant garde composer Loren Connors is almost eerily off-putting (more on that below).

The image quality for either edition is staggering, all things considered. A large amount of source damage has been removed while at the same time a natural layer of original grain still remains. Naturally, some issues with flicker, detail, and consistency still remain, but they are hardly that big of an issue in the grand scheme of things.

The “Lo Duca” edition is a major drop off in quality compared to the restored “director’s cut” of the film. It has a much higher abundance of source damage, a thicker grain structure, and weaker contrast.

Audio Quality

[Rating:4.5/5]

A 2005 score for piano by silent film composer Mie Yanashita is provided alongside the 20 FPS version of the film in LPCM 2.0 (48kHz/16-bit) and a 2001 score from avant garde composer Loren Connors is offered with the 24 FPS version of the film, also in LPCM 2.0 (48kHz/16-bit). Both recordings sound wonderfully rich and full of natural dynamics and ambience. It is the Yanashita music, however, that blends most perfectly with its subject in this reviewer’s opinion. The Connors piece, as good as it may be, seems at times to be a bit jarring in tandem with the already too sped-up look of this frame rate. The end result is something quite agitating and unsatisfying.

Supplemental Materials

[Rating:4/5]

If you have purchased the Dual Format Edition, then you will have a DVD included as well. Otherwise there is only the Blu-ray with three versions of the film and the lengthy booklet that is a very good read.

• Booklet: A 100-page containing: writing on the film by Jean Drum & Dale D. Drum about the film, replete with extensive quotations from Dreyer, Falconetti, and more; a contemporary review of the film by H.D. (the poet Hilda Doolittle); a new English translation of the 1930 review of the film by Luis Buñuel; a short 1951 excerpt about the film from writing by André Bazin; a new translation of the 1953 essay about the film by Chris Marker; two short pieces about the film and cinema in general by Carl Theodor Dreyer from 1929 and 1950; a new essay by scholar Casper Tybjerg unpacking the version history of the film; a selection of the production’s set-design blueprints, photographs of physical set-models, and onset stills, all reprinted in high-resolution courtesy of the Danish Film Institute; a detailed technical note on the MoC restoration, versions presented, and frame-rates presented; and rare and archival imagery.

The Definitive Word

Overall:

[Rating:4.5/5]

La passion de Jeanne d’Arc is a showcase of artistry, beauty, and, yes, passion in the truest sense. One wonders if Dreyer and Falconetti knew when they were working together on the film that they were creating history. Perhaps not, but they must have at least had a sense that they had something special on their hands. It’s good to see a true gem like this be restored with such care and brought to Blu-ray.

Additional Screen Captures

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Overall
[Rating:4.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:4/5]

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