Bokelskere.no

"When Joan is sick in prison,you first show a close-up shot of the doctor's hand holding hers.Why this detail?I want the audience to want to see his face before I show it to them.Why do the to monks in white,rather than the Bishop,tell Joan she must die?One is her confessor;the other is brother Martin,the one who had tried to help her by gesturing to her during the trial.They are the one who are closest to her."

"There are several close-up shots of pens writing the minutes of the trial.Why did you insert one as she says,"You record what is against me,you don,t record what is for me"?Because it has dramatic meaning.Everything she says that is written down will return to hurt her.The scratching of the pen has,for me,dramatic meaning."

"When she is asked:"How did you know it was St.Michael?,"she replies:"Because he had the voice of an angel."-How did you know it was the voice of an angel?-"Because I had the will to believe it."

"The elipses-the gaps-are where the poetry slips in."

"At some point there must be transformation, or there is no art. By the end, the images must be speaking their own language."

"This gives the impression that it isn't about a conflict between Joan and her judges,but a ritual in which all of the participants have their roles to play,roles they have accepted.I don,t agree.For me,it's a duel between the Biskop Cauchon and Joan.From beginning to end,the English and the priest are only witnesses."

"I was attemting to portray this peculiar atmosphere by way of the contac between prisoners: Three words are spoken, and a life is suddenly changed."

"Prisoners are very sensetive to this peculiar atmosphere,which is not,by the way,a dramatic atmosphere at all:it exist on a much higher plane.There's no apparent drama in å prison:you hear
people being shot,but you don't react visibly to it.All the drama is interior."

"That's because poetry and truth are sisters. Contrary to what we seem to believe, poetry on-screen is not born from an ensemble of poetic images or from a poetic text, but from an ensemble- or, more accurately, a combination-of details that are true."

"I make a film as I would write a poem. I look for the tone."