When rigor mortis sets in, the face deflates and distorts—the tension of life is no longer present. The world has looked upon death, setting her hands upon Pope Francis’ face. Yet what Dreyer caught ...

Martyrdom finds perhaps its most powerful cinematic expression in Carl Theodor Dreyer’s “The Passion of Joan of Arc” (1928), a ... almost entirely in her face. As Roger Ebert wrote about ...

The Maid was Joan of Arc, whose role in liberating the city of Orléans in 1429 had put courage back into the hearts of the embattled French. Even so, her capture soon after was a morale boost for ...