MovieChat Forums > La passion de Jeanne d'Arc (1928) Discussion > So this is how Falconetti looks like out...

So this is how Falconetti looks like outside of Jeanne

posted 13 years ago by arubi2
7 replies | jump to latest

http://image1.findagrave.com/photos250/photos/2010/336/10692290_129141 431793.jpg

Is it weird that I find her lovelier without any makeup on?

[–] gashousemartin 12 years ago

Im with you, at the end, shaved head and no make up...looked great. Its the eyes.

[–] PremiereDame 12 years ago

I agree also. The publicity photo, while pretty, looks to be heavily air-brushed, as was the mode, (and is today) but Falconetti is a lily who needs no gilding.

I hope with the acclaim of The Artist, more people will become interested in watching this film and other silent greats. This one is unsurpassed for me.

[–] samtruman 12 years ago

Woah! Where did you find this? I've been looking for ages for a picture of her outside of Joan.

[–] yojimboy 12 years ago

Thank you for sharing this, and I agree with you.

[–] sunheadbowed 8 years ago

Yes, more beautiful without make up, but beautiful either way. This is a great find.

[–] practicepiano 7 years ago

Here are some more:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/truusbobjantoo/7378739086

http://www.gettyimages.no/detail/news-photo/french-theatre-actress-ren%C3%A9e-falconetti-about-1925-news-photo/167436593#french-theatre-actress-rene-falconetti-about-1925-photograph-die-picture-id167436593

https://www.flickr.com/photos/truusbobjantoo/7691647384/

[–] burtnyk-260-981892 7 years ago

Absolutely not! I agree with you 100%. And I'm a woman.

I just finished watching this on TCM and I'm almost speechless. What an astonishing performance from Falconetti.... When I came across the film about half-way through, I didn't believe at first that it was so old because (a) the quality of the print is amazing, (b) the cinematography and production quality appear almost modern, and (c) I'd never seen a female actress without makeup to the extreme in a silent film (as was customary). Without it, Falconetti looked like a modern actress. I kept thinking either, "what a shame that she lived so long ago... I wonder what she could have done with modern film making?", or 'OMG, she's so beautiful in her torment'. Accomplishing the ranges of emotions that she had to evoke without sound, utilizing the subtlest change in aspect, the slightest twitch of an eyebrow or raised eyelids or softening in moments of contentment and then the terror of her situation, all while being filmed mostly in closeup is a tour de force. I'm sitting here in awe of that performance. Haunting, heartbreaking, breathtaking.