The Passion of Joan of Arc soundtrack project: Prelude

Welcome to my blog!

With the help of a friend, I have recently brought a long cherished project to fruition. Briefly, the project was to edit a film soundtrack comprised entirely of the music of Anton Bruckner with the great silent film, The Passion of Joan of Arc, directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer in 1928. How and why I did this is the story I will be telling over the next few blog entries. I hope you enjoy the story.

I am an occasional attendee at the Melbourne Cinematheque and on the evening of Wednesday, 7 June 2006 I had my most powerful cinematic experience. Even before attending I was looking forward to the evening’s program, although more for the first feature film than the second. The first film was Andrei Tarkovsky’s The Mirror, which was close to the last of Tarkovsky’s films that I hadn’t yet seen. The second film was Carl Theodor Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc. I hadn’t seen any of Dreyer’s films before.

The Mirror

I attended the program with a couple of friends, who also were a little more interested in seeing Tarkovksy than Dreyer. I was highly impressed with The Mirror – it was extraordinary, really. The lack of obvious narrative structure was disorientating, and it is as close as anything I know to being a cinematic stream of consciousness. Having since seen all Tarkovsky’s films, it is The Mirror along with Andrei Rublev, that have made the strongest impression on me.

For those familiar with the Melbourne Cinematheque’s screening times, you’ll probably know what I mean when I say that I sometimes find it a stretch. Programs (often consisting of two feature films) generally start on a Wednesday evening at 7pm, and can go for 4 hours or more. For those who have to work during the week, it can be quite unforgiving. Not only does it follow a full day of work, it also means a late night and tiredness for the next work day. Often, I only feel up to attending the first film of the evening, so that I can get home at a reasonable hour, and I would only stay for the second film if it was something I was very keen to see. This is not a criticism of the Melbourne Cinematheque – I can hardly praise them enough for screening such a quantity and variety of great cinema every week. The enrichment I have gained is beyond measure. I suppose all I can do is wish that it was at a time which had less impact on work. Or perhaps I could look to retire from work early!

The Passion of Joan of Arc

Going back to the evening under discussion, when The Mirror finished, it was just after nine o’clock. My friends, although somewhat interested in seeing The Passion of Joan of Arc had had enough for the evening. I’m not quite sure why I hung around – perhaps work hadn’t been too bad that day, plus I did know that Dreyer had a great reputation, and that I wanted to see one of his films.

I should mention that true to the Cinematheque’s habit of filling up the program, there was a short film interlude. It was rather unmemorable and about trains. I could detect audience restlessness and a desire to move onto the main film. In fact, after the short film was over, a couple of people yawned very ostentatiously, and I remember one of the Melbourne Cinematheque committee members wearing a rather annoyed look at this rudeness. For now it will suffice to say that what followed was going to dwarf anything that happened in this little episode.

Coming up: My extraordinary experience watching The Passion of Joan of Arc