Joan of Arc (1999)
Ten years before her death, Joan hears voices. Six years later, from the village of Domremy, she begins her mission to unite France under King Charles. First she leads a defense of Vaucouleurs against the Burgundians, then obtains safe passage to Charles, the Dauphin. He uses her, as the embodiment of the mythical "Maid of Lorraine," to raise an army, and he sends her to the rescue of Orléans. After Charles is crowned, Joan leads a disastrous campaign in Paris, where her brother dies. Then she's the victim of Charles's manipulations: she's captured in Burgundy, sold to the English, examined by Bishop Cauchon, found a heretic by the Inquisition, and burned at the stake.
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Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.
An action-packed slog
I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.
The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.
I just finished watching this movie with my history class and we all enjoyed it. The acting was pretty good, but there were scenes when I felt that the young actress playing Joan could be doing so much better. She was okay and did a phenomenal job in some scenes but in others, she fell completely flat. Neal Patrick Harris was amazing as the king, and to be perfectly honest, I never thought he had it in him. when I saw his name in the credits I was like, "Oh, boy," but he was really good.Peter O'Toole was...well, he was Peter O'Toole. He was the real gem of the picture. Playing the role of the conflicted bishop, his performance was by far the strongest. The movie is rather long but I think it is well worth the watch.
I watched this just the other day, about 10 years since i first saw it, and have to admit its still a good watch.Sobieski was really a stand out for me, and considering how young she was when this was shot, she really did the role justice. I couldn't have seen anyone else playing this role with such maturity.I also liked the way this movie portrayed Joan, as the other film starring Milla Jovovich had her conveyed in a more schizophrenic manner. In this movie, Joan was shown to be a compassionate, intelligent, strong-willed young woman who was guided completely by her solid faith. It was really inspiring and a great insight into the life & struggles of one of the great saints.A good movie for the family, with an even better message behind it - truly captivating and faithful to the history.
I had to write a comment after reading the previous one. I found this to be a very refreshingly straightforward rendition of the Joan of Arc story that taught me, as one who only knows the story from movies, a great deal about the political and social realities at the time, including the hunger for real leadership and real spiritual authority. Not too different from our own times now. Apparently a great deal of research was done, including a thorough reading of the transcripts of Joan's actual trial in the original French, to get both the setting and Joan's personality right. And I think it shows. It certainly held my interest, and nothing about its budget distracted me. Plus they did not make her a complete victim - she knew enough to go willingly to the stake. And that's a courageous move on the part of the film's creators which adds that final necessary element of spiritual integrity. Enough so I willingly cried many times through it without feeling manipulated... these matters of soul and spirit felt real to me, and for a skeptical Scorpio like me that's high praise for work well done.
What can I say ? Many, many inaccuracies; oh, let's just call it "historical fiction". The basic storyline is complete, just overlook the fictional parts. E.g. : Neither Baudricourt nor the Dauphin ever saw Joan on her first attempt to gain an audience with either of them. I will list all the mistakes I have found, so far, on a 'movie mistake' web site.Leelee does okay, but the best actor is, by far, Peter O'Toole, of course. Certainly, Peter Strauss does very well, as does Neil Patrick Harris.Be sure to buy the CD from a dealer. The rental is cut down and some minor parts are left out.