Production Budget Analysis

The production budget for The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) has not been publicly disclosed.

CAST: Maria Falconetti, Eugène Silvain, André Berley, Maurice Schutz, Antonin Artaud, Michel Simon DIRECTOR: Carl Theodor Dreyer CINEMATOGRAPHY: Rudolph Maté MUSIC: Ole Schmidt, Jesper Kyd PRODUCTION: Société générale des films

Box Office Performance

The Passion of Joan of Arc earned $21,877 domestically and $-3,756 internationally, for a worldwide total of $18,121. The film skewed heavily domestic (121%), suggesting strong North American appeal.

Profitability Assessment

Insufficient publicly available data to assess profitability.

INDUSTRY IMPACT

PRODUCTION NOTES

▸ Casting

Joan of Arc was Renée Jeanne Falconetti's second and last film role. Although she always preferred the theater to cinema and said she never understood the positive reaction to her acting, Falconetti's performance achieved iconic status almost immediately.

Dreyer had gone to see Falconetti backstage at a performance of Victor Margueritte's La Garçonne, Dreyer asked her to do some screen tests the next day, but without any make-up. During the tests, he "found in her face exactly what I wanted for Joan: a country girl, very sincere, but also a woman of suffering." Dreyer then told Falconetti about the film and her role in great detail. She agreed to star in the film, secretly hoping that she would not have to cut her hair or forgo make-up. Dreyer had stated that a director "must be careful never to force his own interpretation on an actor, because an actor cannot create truth and pure emotions on command. One cannot push feelings out. They have to arise from themselves, and it is the director's and actor's work in unison to bring them to that point."

▸ Music & Score

Different scores were used for the two premieres of the Passion of Joan of Arc in Copenhagen and Paris. The music of the Paris version, for orchestra and singers, has survived and has been revived. It was composed by Leo Pouget and Victor Alix, who as well as being film composers, both wrote operettas; Pouget was coming to the end of his career, whereas Alix was regarded by Le Ménestrel as becoming an established composer. Their score for the Passion of Joan of Arc has been seen in recent years as having some limitations. In the 1920s, film music was normally played live in the theatre. However, some of the Pouget/Alix score was recorded. In 1929, selections were released in 78 format in a performance by "l'orchestre symphonique du Lutetia Wagram" (the Lutetia Wagram being a large Parisian cinema of the time, since demolished).

Like most directors of that era, Dreyer had no control over the music. He stated he did not fully approve of any score he had heard, which featured Bach, Albinoni and Vivaldi.

Since Dreyer's death and the rediscovery of the original print, numerous composers have provided music for the film. * In 1983, the Danish composer and conductor Ole Schmidt composed a score, which was premiered in Los Angeles in 1983 and released on CD by Dacapo Music in 1999. * In 1994, composer Richard Einhorn wrote an oratorio based on the film titled Voices of Light. This piece is available as an optional accompaniment on the Criterion Collection's DVD release. * In 1999, American singer/songwriter Cat Power provided musical accompaniment at several screenings of the film in the U.S. * In 2009, the Estonian composer Tõnu Kõrvits wrote a score for small orchestra (for L´Ensemble De Basse-Normandie 2009/10 concert season) for this film. * In 2009, the Lithuanian composer Bronius Kutavičius wrote a score for chamber orchestra (for St.