Joan of Arc (1999) (TV)

Regisseur:

Christian Duguay

Drehbuchautoren (WGA):

Michael Alexander Miller (written by) and
Ronald Parker (written by)

Premierendatum:

16. Mai 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Abenteuer | Biographie | Drama

Plot:

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...

Plot Keywords:

1400s | Inquisition | Joan Of Arc | Rouen France | Heresy

Filmpreise:

Nominated for 4 Golden Globes. Another 6 wins & 19 nominations

Nutzerkommentare:

A Decent Effort To Deal With A Controversial Figure

Besetzung

Leelee Sobieski	...	Joan D'Arc
Jacqueline Bisset	...	Isabelle D'Arc
Powers Boothe	...	Jacques D'Arc
Neil Patrick Harris	...	The Dauphin, later King Charles VII of France
Maury Chaykin	...	Sir Robert de Baudricourt
Olympia Dukakis	...	Mother Babette
Jonathan Hyde	...	Duke of Bedford
Robert Loggia	...	Father Monet
Shirley MacLaine	...	Madame de Beaurevoir
Peter O'Toole	...	Bishop Cauchon
Maximilian Schell	...	Brother Jean le Maistre
Peter Strauss	...	La Hire
Chad Willett	...	Jean de Metz
Ron White	...	Dunois
Jaimz Woolvett	...	Duke of Burgundy

Alternativ:

Jeanne d'Arc (Canada: French title)
Jeanne d'Arc - Die Frau des Jahrtausends (Deutschland) [de]

Länge:

140 Min | UK:180 Min | 60 Min (3 episodes)

Produktionsland:

Canada

Sprache:

Englisch

Farbe:

Farbe

Seitenverhältnis:

1.33 : 1

Tonverfahren:

Stereo

Altersfreigabe:

Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Germany:12 | UK:12 | USA:Unrated

Drehorte:

Krivoklat, Czech Republic

Firma:

Alliance Atlantis Communications

Pannen:

Abfolgefehler: When Joan first goes up to the stake, she is wearing white shoes. In the shot after that, she is barefoot.

Dialogzitate:

Bishop Cauchon: Poor, deluded Joan. She has no idea she has put a monster on the throne. Those are my last words as Your Majesty's spiritual advisor.

Bezüge zu anderen Titeln:

Neufassung von The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999)

A Decent Effort To Deal With A Controversial Figure

Overall, I enjoyed this movie. I thought it was well put together and well researched and definitely gave the viewer a flavour of the times in which it was set: 14th century France (although the movie was actually filmed in the Czech Republic.)

Leelee Sobieski put on a very convincing performance as Joan of Arc, the young girl who hears what she believes are divinely inspired voices calling her to unite the French people and lead them in rebellion against their English conquerors. To his credit, director Christian Duguay leaves the origins of the voices very much to the discretion of the viewer. They may or may not be real; Joan may or may not be imagining them. What's important (and historically accurate) is that Joan herself believed in the voices, and they inspired both her and the French nation. Powers Booth and Jacqueline Bisset were believable as Joan's understandably confused parents trying to decide whether their daughter is divinely called or simply rebellious (or possibly insane.) Peter O'Toole was well cast as Bishop Cauchon (and the religious divisions of the time, just before the open outbreak of the Protestant reformation, was well presented) and I was surprisingly impressed by Neil Patrick Harris as King Charles.

All that sounds good, and yet I can't find myself going higher than 6/10 on this. Somehow, in spite of the good performances and well put together story I found the movie inexplicably difficult to follow, and frankly much too long. An hour could have easily been cut out of it and not missed. To me, that's a major weakness. It doesn't destroy the movie. This is still a good movie worth watching. But for me, it just misses the point of moving from good to very good.