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Joan Of Arc: The Messenger [2000]


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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

Over the years, many film directors have attempted to tell the story of legendary 15th-century heroine Joan of Arc, a simple country girl who claimed she was inspired by God to lead the French troops in a victorious assault on the mighty English army. Luc Besson's 1999 epic might not be the best version of her life, but it's certainly the biggest. The movie cost a reported $60 million. Even if you are terminally unimpressed by the scale of such recent blockbusters as Gladiator, your eyes will pop out at the sheer number of bodies (living and dead) that Besson has assembled for the dynamic battle scenes. The lavish sets and costumes are almost equally gobsmacking, though neither will show to maximum advantage on the small screen. That's a pity because size is the only thing Joan of Arc really has going for it--as a human drama, it falls completely flat.

The historical Joan was eventually made a saint by the Catholic Church, and earlier biopics tended to treat her celestial visions as literal fact. It was probably a mistake for Besson and his co-screenwriter Andrew Birkin to take a more psychological approach and present them as figments of her hysterical imagination. It makes it hard to work up the necessary empathy when the spectacle revolves around a confused and neurotic babe who couldn't organise a Tupperware party, let alone a vast military campaign. Milla Jovovich (the star of Besson's previous The Fifth Element and formerly his wife) doesn't help matters with her shrill and amateurish performance. But a couple of the supporting players are passably amusing--John Malkovich camps it up energetically as Charles, the dispossessed French king whom Joan reinstates, while Faye Dunaway wears outlandish headgear and carries on like a science-fiction creation in the role of his scheming mother-in-law. (The less said the better about Dustin Hoffman's pompous turn as Joan's personified conscience.) Besson keeps to the same glossy visual style even when the Maid is burning at the stake, but it isn't enough to prevent this empty shell of a movie from being a colossal yawn. --Peter Matthews

Editorial
Special Features

2.35 Wide Screen
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
DVD 9
German
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English German
Dolby Digital 5.1
Filmographies
Isolated Score
Making Of Featurette
Teaser Trailer
Trailer
Arabic\Bulgarian\Croatian\Czech\Danish\Dutch\English\Finnish\German\Greek\Hebrew\Hindi\Hungarian\Icelandic\Norwegian\Polish\Swedish\Turkish

Editorial
Synopsis

Action master Besson takes on French history in this ambitious look at the legendary saint and martyr. Beginning with a young Joan witnessing her sister's rape and murder at the hands of brutal English soldiers, the film picks up years later when Joan (Jovovich) appears at the court of the French Dauphin (Malkovich), who is making little progress against his enemies. Joan's self-confidence and charisma induce the Dauphin to take a gamble by allowing her to lead troops, resulting in an upset victory at Orleans. However, Joan eventually outlives her usefulness to the French throne and is sold out to the English, who burn her for heresy. All the while, Joan struggles with her faith, exasperating the experienced French generals and having impassioned arguments with her imaginary 'Conscience' (Hoffman). Features several exciting medieval battle scenes.
Editorial
From the Back Cover

Starring Milla Jovovich (The Fifth Element, He Got Game), Oscar winner Dustin Hoffman, Oscar winner Faye Dunaway and Oscar nominee John Malkovich, internationally acclaimed director Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, Leon, The Big Blue) brings you JOAN OF ARC - THE MESSENGER - the epic story of a woman who followed her own path and changed the course of history.

In 1429 a teenage girl from a remote French village stood before her King with a message she claimed came from God; that she would defeat the world's greatest army and liberate her country from its political and religious turmoil. As this small voice in the heart of a simple girl grew stronger, rulers were drawn to listen, armies empowered to fight and her countrymen inspired to believe.

Following her mission to reclaim God's diminished kingdom - through her amazing victories until her violent and untimely death - the life of Joan of Arc is explored in this startling epic.


Not an epic, but still very good
Review date: 2008-06-11 Rating: 6 out of 10

I found this film very informative and interesting to watch, it's not a film with alot of action which may disappoint some people, but I had no problem with it.

The film moves at a reasonable pace, but rarely does gather pace much more than what you see in the first 15 minutes, but despite this and the fact this film is almost two and a half hours long I did not feel that it was drawn out.

The entire cast put in solid performances, it's only the second film I've seen with Milla Jovovich who plays Joan of Arc, I was particularly impressed with her performance, especially when taking into account that she's in virtually every scene from the time she first appears, good support is provided in particular by John Malkovich, Dustin Hoffman and Timothy West.

Although the music score was good I'd liked to have seen more battle scenes and an even more impressive score, with the quality of the rest of the film then this for me would have turned this into a possible epic, but the result is a good solid film all the same and well worth taking a look.

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Reviews


For the morning after.
Review date: 2008-06-09 Rating: 6 out of 10

As someone who likes to sit for hours, hungover on a Sunday afternoon, watching historical epics, I'll try to be as unbiased as I can.

`Joan Of Arc' falls into that "3 star epic" category that has recently swallowed a number of A-List directors (Ridley Scott's "Kingdom Of Heaven", Stone's "Alexander etc.), but is still a very watchable film, with enough magic moments to make it memorable.

Mila Jovovich turns in a very strong, if at times irritating performance, reminiscent of Anne Parillaud in `Nikita' (before she calms down); Tcheky Karyo is, as usual, excellent, but the credit has to go to Dustin Hoffmann for his role as the "dark" conscience of Joan - a fantastic creative move that renders the last act of the movie the strongest. Hoffmann's subtle performance brings balance to Jovovich's OTT Joan and the two bring magic to the screen.

This is undoubtedly an impressive film, which should provide a short distraction in that period between cooked breakfast and Sunday lunch.


Very poor direction
Review date: 2008-01-20 Rating: 2 out of 10

A very unconvincing film in which Joan one of the true heroes of France and indeed the world is projected as a neurotic fruit cake. Personally I would not have followed Milla Jovovich into battle on the basis of her screeching performance. Who can produce a film which really conveys the astonishing courage of a 19 year old girl leading the French army, ending the 100 years war and essentially creating France as nation? This whimpering Joan doesn't begin to get anywhere near it.

An interesting Joan, but not my Joan
Review date: 2007-10-28 Rating: 6 out of 10

Oh dear! Having come fresh from seeing Shaw's play about Joan of Arc at the National Theatre, and having been inspired then to read histories of her and her times, I was curious to see Luc Besson's take on the subject. Whilst my review might commence in an overly-critical manner, there are good points that I reserve until the end.

I had expected the worst "history according to Hollywood" tale. Whilst this is not strictly the case here, there are causes for some concern in both the historical veracity of what is portrayed and in the feel of the movie itself. To begin, the movie loses much of its edge by not employing French actors throughout, apart, obviously for the English and other nationalities. And records of the time show that Joan herself was not the most beautiful of women. (But who's going to invest so much money in a film without a beautiful heroine, without an English-language soundtrack, and without a strong Hollywood contingent - shame, but that's the way it is.) Secondly, the film is too clean and clinical, too staged, lacking realism in many scenes. Where's the mud, the dirt, the bad teeth, the ragged hair; where is the confusion of living? Why do we see conifer plantations with trees in nice rows? Why do the walls of Orleans suddenly halt and the grass begin with no suburbs, no roads, no boats in the river's port? Thirdly, the script is laughably lousy in places.

Every five minutes there would appear to be something on screen to incur my wrath, whether it is the king of France (John Malkovich) speaking in an American accent; the ridiculous stage-set that is supposed to be the city of Orleans (and the even worse stage-set at the walls of Paris); or the twisting of history to suit the narrative. In this last point, the trial scene at the end is to me the most blatant: where is the inquisitor, where is Joan's claims that it was saints Margaret and Catherine who spoke to her? The attack on Domremy featured at the beginning of the movie, where Joan as a young girl witnesses unspeakable horrors, is based on the slenderest of evidence. And why are all the English prtrayed as thugs and villains? (After all, Mel Gibson doesn't appear in this film!) And what are we to make of the credit at the end of the movie where "Mr Besson" would like to thank, amongst others, Madonna, Sting and Trudy?

So is there nothing good to say about this movie, which clearly has had a lot of time, money and energy expended on it? Well, yes, there is!

I was impressed with the fresh take on Joan and her visions. Being an agnostic, and being someone who has studied psychology at degree level, I have never for one minute accepted uncritically the view that her visions were true in any objective sense. Besson's film does at least question them, and this is no bad thing. He uses imaginative ways to try to encapsulate what Joan may have been thinking at the time of her visitations, and Dustin Hoffman's portrayal as her conscience is very intriguing - and, I might add, well-acted on his part. Secondly, the effects in the film are good where Joan's visions are concerned, but could have been better with the depiction of medieval France, its towns, people and battles. Thirdly, the acting is good, and very good in parts. The scene at Chinon where joan first meets the king is excellent, and I found Faye Dunnaway especially convincing as Charles VII's mother-in-law.

So, a film to love and to loath. This is a fresh and invigorating take on who Joan of Arc really was or might have been: but it is not my Joan.

Fairly watchable version but overlong
Review date: 2007-10-08 Rating: 6 out of 10

This is as watchable as the other versions I have seen, but its length may be offputting to some. Not perfect then, but what about the treatment of the heroine here, does it add anything new to the rather unimaginative versions already made? The answer I'm glad to say is yes it does. It's another question entirely to ask if this is any good, but at least it is a new approach. Can any version of her really claim to get it right though? Although I liked Bergman's portrayal of her, it was undoubtedly over stylised and over dramatic. Will we ever know the truth of what she was like? I doubt it, but at least this version reminded us she was just a teenager, with the full set of teenage troubles (not that this would have meant anything to the bigots and hypocrites in sackcloth and vestments back then, other than she was easier to bully into submission, then cruelly execute).

We needed more military action than the other films had given, to give a better perspective of her story, and this film delivers it. But the court scenes do go on a bit, and it's a shame there wasn't better dialogue written in the script, as this is a bit awful at times. Malkovich adds something to the film, a little twist of character that kept me watching when the script was starting to repeat itself. Infact, I found him strangely more compelling than Joan herself, but then that's Malkovich for you. I'm sure filmmakers will keep on trying to make the perfect movie of the story of Joan of Arc, but I'm not so sure it can ever really be done. The best I think we can hope for is entertainment, and this film manages that, just.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
John Malkovich
Faye Dunaway
Tchéky Karyo
Dustin Hoffman
Milla Jovovich

Creators:
Milla Jovovich (Primary Contributor)
Dustin Hoffman (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Uca Catalogue
Manufacturer: Uca Catalogue
EAN: 5035822908130
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Anamorphic, Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 2005-08-01
Number of discs: 1
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 155 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1999-11-12
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: German (Original Language)
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: German (Subtitled)
Language: Hindi (Subtitled)
Language: Turkish (Subtitled)
Language: Danish (Subtitled)
Language: Icelandic (Subtitled)
Language: Swedish (Subtitled)
Language: Hungarian (Subtitled)
Language: Polish (Subtitled)
Language: Arabic (Subtitled)
Language: Dutch (Subtitled)
Language: Finnish (Subtitled)
Language: Croatian (Subtitled)
Language: Czech (Subtitled)
Language: Greek (Subtitled)

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