The Passion of Joan of Arc

Dreyer's film charts the final days of Joan of Arc as she undergoes the debasement that accompanies her trial for charges of heresy through her imprisonment and execution at the stake. The portrayal of Joan by Maria Falconetti is frequently heralded as the all-time finest performance in the history of film, and Dreyer's unusual and virtuosic method, in seeming to render the very soul of his actress, vaulted the director decisively into the ranks of the art form's supreme geniuses. (Eureka Entertainment)