Like Dreyer's 1928 The Passion of Joan of Arc, Bresson's 1962 film is based on the actual transcript of the trial of Joan of Arc, and follows her prolonged interrogation through to her death. The dialogue consists entirely of the trial transcript, reduced to its essentials. The visuals are austere, consisting mainly of medium shots of Joan and her judges, intercut with extreme close-ups of objects, hands, feet.... Out of this icy surface, Bresson creates an exalting experience, full of the mystery and the drama of this woman's existence. Bresson has commented:
“The problem was that of a film entirely in questions and answers. But I was content to use the monotony like a unified background against which the nuances would be more clearly seen.... Joan's replies...serve not so much to give information about present or past events as to provoke significant reactions on Joan's face, the movements of her soul.... I see her with the eyes of a believer. I believe in the marvelous world whose doors she opens and closes.... She convinces us of a world at the farthest reach of our faculties. She enters this supernatural world but closes the door behind her” (in Sadoul, “Dictionary of Films”).