Role: Joan of Arc
Genre: Adventure , Biography , Drama
Director: Luc Besson
Written by: Luc Besson
Running time: 158 min
Budget: $60 million
Release Date: 12 November 1999
Additional Cast: John Malkovich, Dustin Hoffman
Synopsis
In 1412, a young girl called Jeanne is born in Domrémy, France. The times are hard: The Hunderd Years war with England has been going on since 1337, English knights and soldiers roam the country. Jeanne develops into a very religious young woman, she confesses several times a day. At the age of 13, she has her first vision and finds a sword. When coming home with it, she finds the English leveling her home town. Years after that, in 1428, she knows her mission is to be ridding France of the English and so sets out to meet Charles, the Dauphin. In his desperate military situation, he welcomes all help and gives the maiden a chance to prove her divine mission. After the successful liberation of Orléans and Reims, the Dauphin can be crowned traditionally in the cathedral of Reims – and does not need her anymore, since his wishes are satisfied. Jeanne d’Arc gets set up in his trap and is imprisoned by the Burgundians. (Written by Julian Reischl)
Critical response
The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc has received mixed reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 30% based on reviews from 73 critics and reports a rating average of 4.5 out of 10, with the reported consensus: “The heavy-handed narrative collapses under its own weight.”At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 54 based on 33 reviews, indicating “mixed or average reviews”.
While director Luc Besson’s and director of photography Thierry Arbogast’s cinematography itself was mostly praised, the performance by Milla Jovovich, the level of violence, modern language used in dialogues, and historical accuracy were the most common topics discussed negatively.
“Jovovich received respectable reviews from impressed critics who were unable to fathom that the girl with the commanding screen presence came from the emotionally vacuous modeling world.”
[In questioning Joan regarding all the gifts that King Charles VII bestowed upon her]:
Priest: Did he not also give you many dresses? Silk dresses, weren’t they?
Joan of Arc: Yes, he gave me a few, but I never had time to wear them.
Priest: Still… You seem a little wealthy to be a simple peasant, don’t you think?
Joan of Arc: You seem a little wealthy to be a servant of God, don’t you think?