On Friday, October 7, Hauser & Wirth showed Carl Dreyer’s silent movie classic “The Passion of Joan of Arc” at the stunning Wells Cathedral, with a new orchestral score composed by members of perhaps the two best bands ever to come out of Somerset, Portishead and Goldfrapp.The event, close to the gallery’s Somerset home (where they are currently showing the work of Louise Bourgeois), blended together art with music and film, the result being a triumphant night.Dreyer’s “The Passion of Joan of Arc,” first released in 1928, has long been seen as a masterpiece — both in its time and as a precursor to contemporary film — with its focus on psychology, naturalistic acting, and, occasionally, graphic violent imagery. These elements were brought to the fore by the music of Adrian Utley and Will Gregory, full of ethereal female vocals and synth blips familiar from Goldfrapp’s earliest work and Portishead’s most recent album, “Third” (2008). At a late point in the film, where Joan’s dead body appears in silhouette as it is engulfed by smoke, the score was shockingly modern, bringing out the deep horror of the moment.That is not to say, however, that the music and the cathedral engulfed the film — a masterpiece of starkness visually comparable to an intersection between German Expressionism and Caravaggio’s most pared down later works. Although it is ridiculous to call the 12th century gothic Wells Cathedral “minimalist,” it does have a certain effective simplicity within that chimed nicely with the film’s blank interiors and white walls. The effect served to envelop the audience in the film, highlighting even further the stunning central performance of Renee Jeanne Falconetti — perhaps the finest performance by a non-professional actor in film history.What resulted from the screening, in short, was a victory lap of sorts for Hauser & Wirth in Somerset, one that showed them as a cultural force for the surrounding area, simultaneously raising its profile and celebrating the best of its home-grown locations and talents.
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