n the twilight of the 1920s — just as talking pictures were taking off — a late-arriving silent surprise shim- mered into view. ICalled The Passion of Joan of Arc, it’s a stubborn sort of film: The world some- times seems to want to forget all about this singular masterpiece, but its tran- scendent emotional force has always kept it near the top of many lists of the world’s finest films. On Nov. 18 and 19, at 7:30 p.m., this JAMIE PHRAMJAMIE very special movie will be shown in a very special way. Presented by the Bach Voices of Light and Festival Society of Winter Park, The Passion of Joan of Arc will be screened at Rollins College’s Knowles Memorial The Passion of Joan of Arc Chapel. The black-and-white, 1928 produc- By Jay Boyar tion will be accompanied by an approx- imately 30-piece and 100-voice

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P. 20-22 Voices of Light_622.indd 20 10/13/16 11:51 AM “Success for me will be not only a beautiful sound, but also a sound that perfectly lines up with the film.” — Bach Festival Society Artistic Director John V. Sinclair

called St. Joan. , to support the showings of the film at who directed the movie, was a Danish Knowles. “It’s a movie of ideas and a Lutheran. movie of conversations.” Joan of Arc tells the tale of Joan’s inqui- “If you have a list of 10 favorite mov- sition and fiery demise. As we encounter ies,” Einhorn predicts, “after her in the film, her battlefield exploits, you see The Passion of Joan of Arc, you’ll as well as her preference for male attire, have a list of 11 favorite movies.” are in her past. This is a movie about how “the maid of Orléans,” who famously An Ethereal Marriage heard “voices,” is made to pay dearly for Sixty-five years after Dreyer directed this her transgressive spirit. film, Einhorn wrote his . For Sin- Dreyer, who had worked as a court clair, the two works are more like one. reporter, chose to tell this story largely “Einhorn did such a good job of mar- through the use of actual transcripts rying the two that I can’t separate them,” from Joan’s trial. Much of the power of reflects the conductor. “Success for me the film resides in its heavy reliance on will be not only a beautiful sound, but closeups. As the director once observed, also [a sound that] perfectly lines up with the face “is a landscape one never tires the film so it matches the action.” PATRICK BROWN of exploring.” In addition, he employs This approach is not precisely what oblique, Expressionistic camera angles, Einhorn intended: “Dreyer had his vision choir, conducted by John V. Sinclair, the which are both disorienting and of Joan,” he says simply, “and I have my Bach Festival Society’s artistic director. dramatic. own.” Nevertheless, he’s fine with those They will perform an oratorio, Voices of “I’ve seen at least 100 movies about who think of the works as a single state- Light, inspired by the film and written by Joan of Arc,” notes Southern Methodist ment instead of, as he does, “parallel New York composer Richard Einhorn. University Professor Bonnie Wheeler, works of art.” “This has been a collaborative aspira- founder and director of the Interna- Einhorn almost didn’t write Voices of tion,” says Randy Robertson, founder of tional Joan of Arc Society. “I’ve never Light. When someone suggested that he GladdeningLight, a locally based organi- seen anything else that maintains this compose a piece about Joan of Arc, he zation devoted to art and spirituality that sense of both historical accuracy and was at first unenthusiastic. is working in partnership with the soci- emotional power.” “I thought that was a terrible idea ety to present the film, the oratorio and That power also arises from the pas- because I knew nothing about Joan at related Joan of Arc events. sionate performance, as Joan, of Renée all,” he recalls. “Then I saw the movie and “She’s just such an attractive proto- Falconetti, a French stage actress who I thought: Oh, my God! That’s absolutely type of feminine heroism,” he adds. was known mainly for comedy. The critic perfect. It’s one of the most remarkable Pauline Kael wrote that Falconetti’s por- stories in Western history.” A Powerful Archetype trayal “may be the finest performance He estimates that his oratorio has You don’t have to be French, Catholic ever recorded on film.” been publicly performed about 250 times or even particularly spiritual to find “It’s a very intense, very intimate throughout the world, sometimes with yourself caught up in the towering emo- drama of Joan of Arc and her accusers,” the film, sometimes not. The music, he tions of this film about the 15th-century offers Enzian’s president, Henryadds, sounds a little medieval and a little Gallic teenager who would come to be Maldonado, who has been working modern, but not quite either.

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P. 20-22 Voices of Light_622.indd 21 10/13/16 11:51 AM “The music sort of floats outside of time,” he explains, “the way the story and the film do.”

More Than Film & Music In addition to the movie and the ora- torio, there will be a lecture by SMU’s Wheeler about Joan of Arc at 2 p.m., Nov. 19. At 4 p.m., Robertson will mod- erate a forum about all things Joan with

a panel including Wheeler, Einhorn, COURTESY BACH FESTIVAL SOCIETY OF WINTER PARK Sinclair and Maldonado. Both events The Bach Festival Society orchestra and choir at home in Knowles Chapel are free and will be held at Rollins’ Bush Auditorium. of Arc will be shown at Knowles Chapel, feet. And roared.” With female empowerment and gen- so are the efforts of GladdeningLight’s For tickets and further information, der identity very much on our minds Robertson, who saw the film, with contact the Bach Festival Society of these days, this may be an especially Einhorn’s oratorio, performed in Winter Park at bachfestivalflorida.org/ appropriate moment for such a lecture Washington, D.C., in February 2014. Ever tickets or 407.646.2182. and panel, and to watch a film that tells since, he has been working to bring it to Joan’s story. Central Florida. Jay Boyar’s columns, reviews and articles “Talk about timely!” exclaims Sinclair. “When it was over, people didn’t even have appeared in such publications as the “It has more poignancy today than in know how to react, it was that astound- Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, many other times in history.” ing a production,” reflects Robertson, the Chicago Tribune, the New York Daily If current sociopolitical trends may be clearly still in awe. “People just sat there News and the Orlando Sentinel, where he part of the reason that The Passion of Joan for a while and then jumped to their served as the movie critic.

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