Jeanne captive (The Silence of Joan) | Review

There have been enough masterpieces tackling the martyrdom of Joan of Arc that the story is effectively burned into the consciousness of any film history buff. Auteurs with names like Bresson, Dreyer, Besson, Fleming, and Rivette have handled the intense tale with considerable style, flair, and/or austerity, and now Philippe Ramos attempts to stake claim in that collective with his own adaptation, The Silence of Joan. Unfortunately, the results are much less than incendiary. His incarnation silences the complexities of Joan’s plight in favor of indulgent ellipses that adds little to the emotion and rigor found in the prior, classic representations.

Ramos cuts right to the chase by beginning the film with England’s acquisition of the distraught heroine. She is presented as a suicidal, possessed figure clearly on the brink. The psychological foundations that might make these fragments enveloping are notably absent (though they can of course be found in history books and most of the other films), hinting that Ramos is aware that anyone piqued enough to track down his Joan will be familiar enough with her story that he can get away with not including details.

The vagueness in the approach would be tolerable if compensated with another enrapturing element in the production, but supporting substance is minimal. Ramos’ compositions are banally constructed, and they only gain interest in the capturing format, which is a plasticky HD video. Much like Michael Mann’s digital lensing for his period crime thriller Public Enemy, the clash of aesthetics and era details makes for an uncanny juxtaposition that occasionally destabilizes the film’s presentational qualities.

Clemence Poesy as Joan is more of a non-factor here than any other actress to take on the role, being reduced to the baresof displays of human expression and behavior. The same goes for pretty much every other supporting actor save for the late cameo by Mathieu Amalric, whose casting as a bearded priest is so conspicuous and goofy that it injects a bit of late inspiration into the film, even if it is unintentionally amusing.

Ramos’ previous film Capitaine Achab put a unique and exciting spin on the oft told Moby Dick tale; anyone familiar with that project will be all the more baffled by the straight-laced, self-serious approach that he goes with here. If the story of Joan of Arc needed to be told again, is it too much to ask that it function on some level of entertainment, or perhaps some extreme deconstruction of previous efforts? This newest entry in the arsenal of Arc tales leaves no mark on those films, nor the viewer, and is entirely superfluous.

2011 Cannes Int. Film Festival – Directors’ Fortnight

May 14th, 2011

Rating 2 stars