Jeanne d'Arc, Living Marble (Franklin)

    Joan of Arc in The Passion of Joan of Arc embodies the religious artists' vision of piety and love of God.  The style of the film, in its nearly constant use of close-up shots and stark lighting, produces the effect of the characters being living statues.  Joan nearly always looks up toward God/salvation and the changes on her face evolve slowly through the film.  The tears well up in her eyes over a painfully long time until they finally spill forth. Even the motion of her tears takes on the viscosity of marble, leaving the audience time to sink in the landscape of her face as one would a mountain landscape. Slow as time and as expressive as the wrinkles of age on a rock face.

    The Ecstacy of St Theresa is my favorite marble statue for very similar reasons. St Theresa is literally carved of stone in this work, but the impression is captured in her features. Pale and starkly lit, every feature is for the viewer to meditate on and every expression is a rich story of her love for God.  Though the experience of God is drastically different for these two saints, one in suffering and the other in ecstasy, the impression these women's faces give an audience is that of a journey toward God. If only the development of St Theresa's ecstasy could be developed in living marble on the silver screen in such a rich and meticulous fashion as the treatment of Joan of Arc.

Comments

  1. Campbell LozuawayDecember 7, 2021 at 11:27 PM

    "produces the effect of the characters being living statues" great observation. I love it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Krishnan VenkateshDecember 22, 2021 at 9:40 AM

    Beautiful. You're right about the sculptural quality -- as if dead rock is being brought to life, or as if what is happening on screen has an unending rock-like quality.

    ReplyDelete

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