Dvd/150: PROCES DE JEANNE D'ARC (The Trial of Joan of Arc) (Robert Bresson, 1962)

Bresson brings his austere realist approach to the trial of Joan of Arc which won two awards at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival.

It was inevitable that Bresson's film would be compared to Dreyer's acclaimed 1928 silent version of the subject LA PASSION DE JEANNE D'ARC but Bresson rejected comparisons, finding much to dislike in the over-the-top caricatures of the judges in the earlier work.

Bresson's performers were all non-professionals which adds to the low-key tone of the film which lasts a mere 65 minutes.  There is some stilted playing - notably by the actors playing the English characters - but the non-showy performances of Florence Carrez as Joan and surrealist painter Jean-Claude Fourneau as Bishop Cauchon are fine.

Unlike Dreyer's version which suggested the trial lasted a few days, Bresson suggests the four month event by the continual climbing and descending of the prison stairs.

Shelf or charity shop?  Bresson's subdued film still manages to impress and - as it is based almost entirely on the actual transcripts of the trial - Joan's voice echoes down the centuries with a clarity as she evades the attempts by the judges to trip her up.  This lives in my dvd limbo of a plastic storage box.

 

 

The 13th ANNUAL CHRISSIES - I liked 'em, I really liked 'em

The Chrissies are now in their 13th year...  I don't think 2019 was the most spectacular year in theatre-going it must be said but all worthy winners...

BEST DRAMA (Original/Revival) - A GERMAN LIFE - Christopher Hampton  
(Bridge Theatre)

Nominees:

HARRY POTTER AND THE CURIOUS CHILD (Palace) / NINE NIGHT (Trafslgar Studios) / THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE (Dorfman, NT) / PRESENT LAUGHTER (Old Vic)

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BEST MUSICAL (Original/Revival) - GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY
  - Bob Dylan / Conor McPherson (Gielgud Theatre)

 Nominees:

BLUES IN THE NIGHT (Kiln) / BRIDGES OF MADICON COUNTY (Menier) / 

 COME FROM AWAY (Phoenix) / FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (Playhouse)

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BEST CLASSICAL PRODUCTION - GISELLE (Sadler's Wells)

 

 

 Nominees:

MANON (Covent Garden) / THE RED SHOES (Sadler's Wells) /
ROMEO AND JULIET (Covent Garden) / THE SLEEPING BEAUTY (Covent Garden)

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BEST ACTOR (Drama) - ANDREW SCOTT - Present Laughter (Old Vic)

 

Nominees:

ROGER ALLAM (Rutherford & Son) / JONATHAN HYDE (Gently Down The Stream) /
ALEX JENNINGS (Hansard) / DENIS O'HARE (Tartuffe The Imposter)

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BEST ACTRESS (Drama) - MAGGIE SMITH - A German Life (Bridge Theatre)

Nominees:

LINDSAY DUNCAN (Hansard) / NATASHA GORDON (Nine Night) / 
 JUSTINE MITCHELL (Rutherford & Son) / MARTHA PLIMPTON (Sweat)

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BEST ACTOR (Musical) - ANDY NYMAN - Fiddler On The Roof (Playhouse)

 
Nominees:

ARTHUR DARVILL (Sweet Charity) / ALEXANDER HANSON (Follies) / 

DONALD SAGE MACKAY (Girl From The North Country) / LAYTON WILLIAMS (Everybody's Talking About Jamie)

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BEST ACTRESS (Musical) - JENNA RUSSELL - The Bridges of Madison County (Menier)

Nominees:

CHRISSIE BHIMA (Once On This Island) / KATIE BRAYBEN (Girl From The North Country) / SHARON D CLARKE (Blues In The Night) / JOANNA RIDING (Follies)

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BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (Drama) - JONATHAN CASE - Harry Potter and The Cursed Child (Palace)

 

 Nominees:

JOE ARMSTRONG (Rutherford & Son) / JOSHUA HILL (Present Laughter) /

JUSTIN SALINGER (The Ocean at The End Of The Lane) / LUKE THALLON (Present Laughter)

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BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS (Drama) - SOPHIE THOMPSON - Present Laughter (Old Vic)

 Nominees:

MICHELLE GREENIDGE (Nine Night) / DOROTHEA MYER-BENNETT (While The Sun Shines) / INDIRA VARMA (Present Laughter) / ANJANA VASAN (Rutherford & Son)

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BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (Musical) - DALE RAPLEY - The Bridges of Madison County (Menier)

 Nominees:

PETER FORBES (Follies) / ROY HAYLOCK (Everybody's Talking About Jamie) / 

ROBERT HANDS (Come From Away) / JACK McBRAYER (Waitress)

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BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS (Musical) - RACHEL JOHN - Girl From The North Country (Gielgud)

 

Nominees:

REBECCA McKINNIS (Everybody's Talking About Jamie) / CLAIRE MOORE (Follies) / 

GLORIA OBIYANYO (Girl from The North Country) / RACHEL TUCKER (Come From Away)

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BEST CLASSICAL MALE - VITTORIO GRIGÓLO - Tosca (Covent Garden)

Nominees:

ADAM COOPER (The Red Shoes) / HERMAN COMEJO (Trio ConcertDance) / 

STEVEN McRAE (Manon) / BRYN TERFEL (Tosca)

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BEST CLASSICAL FEMALE - STINA QUAGEBEUR - Giselle (Sadler's Wells)

Nominees:

CORDELIA BRAITHWAITE (The Red Shoes) and (Romeo & Juliet) / 

ALESSANDRA FERRI (Trio ConcertDance) / ERINA TAKAHASHI (Giselle)

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BEST DIRECTOR - MATTHEW WARCHUS - Present Laughter (Old Vic)

Nominees:

JONATHAN KENT (A German Life) / CONOR McPHERSON (Girl From The North Country)  / JOHN TIFFANY (Harry Potter and The Cursed Child) / ROY ALEXANDER WEISE (Nine Night)

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BEST DESIGNER - ROBERT JONES - Fiddler On The Roof (Playhouse)

 

Nominees: 

LEZ BROTHERSTON (The Red Shoes) / ANNA FLEISCHLE (A German Life) / 

CHRISTINE JONES (Harry Potter and The Cursed Child) / TAKIS (Ain't Misbehavin')

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BEST LIGHTING - MARK HENDERSON - Giselle (Sadler's Wells)

 Nominees:

NEIL AUSTIN (Harry Potter and The Cursed Child) / JON CLARK (A German Life) / 

PAULE CONSTABLE (Romeo + Juliet) / TIM LUTKIN (Fiddler On The Roof)

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BEST CHOREOGRAPHY (Musical) - OTI MABUSE - Ain't Misbehavin' (Southwark Playhouse)

Nominees:

MATT COLE / JEROME ROBBINS (Fiddler On The Roof) / STEVEN HOGGETT (Harry Potter and The Curious Child) / LEE PROUD (Once On This Island) / SAM SPENCER-LANE (Maggie May)

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BEST CHOREOGRAPHY (Classical) - AKRAM KHAN - Giselle (Sadler's Wells)

Nominees:

MATTHEW BOURNE (The Red Shoes) and (Romeo & Juliet) / 

KENNETH McMILLAN (Manon) and (Romeo & Juliet)

DVD/150: TESTAMENT OF YOUTH (Moira Armstrong, 1979, tv)

Winner of 5 BAFTAs including Best Drama Series and Best Actress for Cheryl Campbell, TESTAMENT OF YOUTH holds up well after 40 years. resonating more than the 2014 screen version.

It was brought to the screen mostly by women: director Moira Armstrong, writer Elaine Morgan, and script editor Betty Willingale.

Based on her 1933 autobiography, Vera Brittain was aged 20 in 1913, living in Buxton with middle-class parents and devoted to her 18 year-old brother Edward.  Against her parents' wishes, she applied for and received a scholarship to study English at Oxford.

After meeting Edward's close friends - Roland Leighton, Victor Richardson and Geoffrey Thurlow - Vera and Roland's friendship led to an engagement, but World War I intervened.

The friends all enlisted and Vera became a nurse but by 1918, Roland, Geoffrey, Victor and Edward had all been killed.

Cheryl Campbell's Vera is still lustrous, loving, devastated, stoic, numb...

Shelf or charity shop?  This is a keeper, a testament to the futility of war and the pain of grief.  Apart from Cheryl Campbell. there are also fine performances from Emrys James and Jane Wenham as the fussy and over-protective Mr and Mrs Brittain and Rosalie Crutchley as the stern Oxford Principal Emily Penrose.