Both austere and expressionistic, The Passion of Joan of Arc is one of cinema’s great anomalies. Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer employed a historical advisor and based his script on the transcripts of Joan’s trial, but he challenged the aesthetic conventions of the period. Totally eschewing conventional forms of cutting, Dreyer creates his own internal system of communication, held together by glances. Broad pans across the judges are intercut with close-ups of Joan to create the impression that she is the unmoved center of a circle, the axis around which everyone else orbits. This audacious structure forces the viewer to confront the most fundamental questions of belief. Dreyer's original cut is presented, as intended, silently and at 20 frames per second. English subtitles available.