Saint Joan
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| Poster Origin : | United States |
| Poster Size : | US 1 Sheet / 27 x 41" |
| Poster Artist : | Saul Bass |
| Poster Year : | 1957 |
| Poster Version : | First Release |
| Film Origin : | United States |
| Film Director : | Otto Preminger |
| Film Year : | 1957 |
Saint Joan was generally disregarded as a cinematic failure so the poster’s enormous popularity rests on its own merits, and testament indeed to this powerful design.
The simplified figure of Joan seems straightforward enough, with the warrior smashed, literally, and rendered powerless by her broken sword. The woodcut shape, abruptly unfinished, seems to reflect her brutally and prematurely truncated life. The chequered tapestry recalls the work of Klimt, indicating Bass’ European influences. This piece doesn’t quite align itself with the Symbolist’s manifesto, but Bass’ output certainly favoured the nature of things than the things themselves. Does the twinkling backdrop suggest the flickering of orange flames? For that matter, do the blackened legs suggest the figure is scorched below the waist? A gruesome thought.
It is interesting just how dismissed the females are in this production. The heroine’s greatest honours of beatification and canonisation are completely overlooked in Preminger’s oddly disrespectful adaption, and this image, like an eroded carving, strips the character of all humanity, and chooses to focus on weakness rather than strength. Furthermore, Jean Seberg’s credit is almost peripheral, and although she was an unknown actress, to list her leading role last of all seems unfair. If this is all intended as a satirical commentary on the harsh treatment of Joan of Arc, and not misogyny in action, then it is somewhat clumsy and careless.