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| '''''The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc''''' is a ] ] directed by ]. | '''''The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc''''' is a ] ] directed by ]. | ||
| ''The Messenger'' portrays the story of St. ], the famous French war heroine of the ] and religious ], played by |
''The Messenger'' portrays the story of St. ], the famous French war heroine of the ] and religious ], played by ]-born ]. The story begins with young Joan witnessing the atrocities of the English against her family, following her through her visions, to her leadership in battle, through doubt (with ] playing a character who we are never sure is God, Satan or Joan's own conscience and who is only visible to Joan), and finally to her trial and execution. | ||
| Although the producers of the film claimed that it stays close to the historically accepted story of Joan of Arc, historians have disagreed, citing numerous errors and accusing the film of fictionalizing Joan's character. Film reviewers gave the film mixed reviews, with some criticizing the dialogue which some considered inappropriate, while others considered it "corny". In interviews with publications such as '']'', the director has said the film was designed to show Joan, in essence, as a fraud who betrayed her religion by leading an army. The film itself also portrays Joan as a woman who may have been insane. Many French people were outraged by this version of their patron saint. | Although the producers of the film claimed that it stays close to the historically accepted story of Joan of Arc, historians have disagreed, citing numerous errors and accusing the film of fictionalizing Joan's character. Film reviewers gave the film mixed reviews, with some criticizing the dialogue which some considered inappropriate, while others considered it "corny". In interviews with publications such as '']'', the director has said the film was designed to show Joan, in essence, as a fraud who betrayed her religion by leading an army. The film itself also portrays Joan as a woman who may have been insane. Many French people were outraged by this version of their patron saint. | ||
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| Coincidentally, another film based upon the life of Joan of Arc, starring ], was made for television at the same time as Besson's film. | Coincidentally, another film based upon the life of Joan of Arc, starring ], was made for television at the same time as Besson's film. | ||
| ==Plot== | |||
| {{spoiler}} | |||
| The story starts with Joan as a little girl, confessing her sins in church . The priest wonders why Joan is so deeply religious and asks if everything is alright at home, with her family and friends. Nothing seems to be wrong with her life, and he just regards her as a girl who is very religious. She skips out of the church, glad to be forgiven by God and Jesus and as she strays from her village she has a somewhat violent and supernatural vision. When she returns to her village, the English have already began burning it. | |||
| Joan watches as her mother is murdered and raped. After surviving the attack, she goes to live with her distant relatives. She confesses to the priest that she wants to forgive her enemies but she can't. She wants to be one with Jesus and/or God immediately, and downs a goblet of holy wine. | |||
| At ], the soon to be King of France ] recives a message from Joan, requesting an army to lead into battle. Charles VII thinks he should let her come, but his advisors say she may be an assassin. The ] makes the final decision and says that Joan should be seen because the people believe she could save France from the war. | |||
| Joan arrives at Chinon, and right away Charles VII is warned again that she could be an assassin. Charles VII comes up with the plan to let someone else pretend to be him; that way if she is an assassin she will kill the wrong man, and if she is truly sent by god she will know who the real future king is. Joan stands before the throne, but knows the man sitting there isn't Charles VII. They tell her to go find the real one. | |||
| Walking through the crowded room, she miraciously finds Charles VII in the corner. She tells him "I have a message from the King of Heaven for you, and you only." In a private room, Joan tells him about her visions, that she is to lead the French Army to victory against the English and only then will he become the King of France. | |||
| They are reluctant to give Joan an army to command, and want proof that she has been sent by god. They decide to examine whether or not she's a virgin, as she claims to be. They come to the conclusion that there is no sign of corruption and that she is in tact. The testing continues, as they question whether her knowledge in warfare is good enough to command an army. They ask her if she can proof she was sent by god, but she claims that she didn't come to preform tricks, and that the fact that she traveled so far without being killed should be proof enough. | |||
| Joan, clad in armor and equiped with a banner, leads her army to ]. She devises an attack plan from the Boulevard des Tourelles, which the other soldiers say is reckless and makes no sense. Joan feels that she is being critisized because she is a girl and decides to cut her hair short like a man's. She has a letter to the English transcribed, politely requesting their surrender. Their response: "Go fuck yourself!" | |||
| The battle begins the next morning without Joan. By the time she arrives on the battlefield, they're already retreating. Furious with her soldier's disobediance, she ends the retreat and leads her army into another charge. Her horse leaps into the fort and she lowers the drawbridge, allowing her army to rush inside and take it. Afterwards, the French Army salvages an English ]. With the fort taken, they find the tourelles, a gigantic stronghold that will be much more difficult to take. Joan gives the English another chance to surrender, which they refuse. | |||
| They begin their attack, with heavy losses. While climbing a ladder to the fort, Joan gets shot in the chest with an arrow. The seige is brought to a halt, and Joan barely survives. She leads the second seige the next morning. The French push a portable tower over and break the drawbridge, gaining entrance inside the tourelles. There is one last stronghold that has yet to be taken, heavily guarded by a big door. They break in and begin the last part of the battle when Joan has another vision, this one of Jesus screaming and bleeding violently from the head. Joan feels conflicted with the victory , uneasy about all the deaths that took place. That's when the English Army regroups on the other side of the river, soon to engage in warfare. Joan gives them another chance to surrender and return to England, which they miraciously do. | |||
| Joan has freed Orléans and returned to ] to witness the crowning of Charles VII of France. Her military campaign continues to the ]. Her 10,000 reinforcements never arrive, and the seige to take back the city is a failure. She tells King Charles VII to give her another army, but he only wants her to go home. The King conspires to get rid of Joan by letting her get captured by the English at ]. | |||
| When he comes to in ], a mysterious man in robes questions her romantic visions and vanishes. On trial, she refuses to cooperate by not taking an oath and constantly offends the court by doing so. Her Conscience appears in prison and continues to question her visions: wind, clouds, the dance: nothing. The sword was just a sword in a field, so he says. He gives many rational explinations as to how a sword appears in a field, and then show how irrational her idea of god giving her the sword seems. About to be burned, Joan is tricked into signing a paper so she can go to mass and be confessed. The Conscience says that she had just signed away god's existance, and that she abandoned god. The church says she cannot be burned as a heretic, since she recanted her beliefs. | |||
| While in prison, guards come and rip Joan's dress and give her man's clothing. They tell the head of the church that she conjured an evil spell to make the clothing appear, readressing her as a heretic. The Conscience hears her last confession: her signs were only what she wanted to believe and not sent by god, she fought in the name of revenge for her mother's death; she says that she was shelfish and cruel. Joan is burned to death. | |||
| ==Cast== | ==Cast== | ||
Revision as of 08:14, 16 July 2006
The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc is a 1999 historical drama film directed by Luc Besson.
The Messenger portrays the story of St. Joan of Arc, the famous French war heroine of the 15th century and religious martyr, played by Ukrainian-born Milla Jovovich. The story begins with young Joan witnessing the atrocities of the English against her family, following her through her visions, to her leadership in battle, through doubt (with Dustin Hoffman playing a character who we are never sure is God, Satan or Joan's own conscience and who is only visible to Joan), and finally to her trial and execution.
Although the producers of the film claimed that it stays close to the historically accepted story of Joan of Arc, historians have disagreed, citing numerous errors and accusing the film of fictionalizing Joan's character. Film reviewers gave the film mixed reviews, with some criticizing the dialogue which some considered inappropriate, while others considered it "corny". In interviews with publications such as Le Monde, the director has said the film was designed to show Joan, in essence, as a fraud who betrayed her religion by leading an army. The film itself also portrays Joan as a woman who may have been insane. Many French people were outraged by this version of their patron saint.
Besson's eye for imagery is well-displayed in this film. Highlights include the transition from panoramic views to intense close ups, as well as the use of space on the screen. Jovovich, who was at one point engaged to Besson, received generally good reviews for her performance, although she also received a Razzie Award nomination for "Worst Actress".
Coincidentally, another film based upon the life of Joan of Arc, starring Leelee Sobieski, was made for television at the same time as Besson's film.
Plot
Template:Spoiler The story starts with Joan as a little girl, confessing her sins in church . The priest wonders why Joan is so deeply religious and asks if everything is alright at home, with her family and friends. Nothing seems to be wrong with her life, and he just regards her as a girl who is very religious. She skips out of the church, glad to be forgiven by God and Jesus and as she strays from her village she has a somewhat violent and supernatural vision. When she returns to her village, the English have already began burning it.
Joan watches as her mother is murdered and raped. After surviving the attack, she goes to live with her distant relatives. She confesses to the priest that she wants to forgive her enemies but she can't. She wants to be one with Jesus and/or God immediately, and downs a goblet of holy wine.
At Chinon, the soon to be King of France Charles VII recives a message from Joan, requesting an army to lead into battle. Charles VII thinks he should let her come, but his advisors say she may be an assassin. The Yolande of Aragon makes the final decision and says that Joan should be seen because the people believe she could save France from the war.
Joan arrives at Chinon, and right away Charles VII is warned again that she could be an assassin. Charles VII comes up with the plan to let someone else pretend to be him; that way if she is an assassin she will kill the wrong man, and if she is truly sent by god she will know who the real future king is. Joan stands before the throne, but knows the man sitting there isn't Charles VII. They tell her to go find the real one.
Walking through the crowded room, she miraciously finds Charles VII in the corner. She tells him "I have a message from the King of Heaven for you, and you only." In a private room, Joan tells him about her visions, that she is to lead the French Army to victory against the English and only then will he become the King of France.
They are reluctant to give Joan an army to command, and want proof that she has been sent by god. They decide to examine whether or not she's a virgin, as she claims to be. They come to the conclusion that there is no sign of corruption and that she is in tact. The testing continues, as they question whether her knowledge in warfare is good enough to command an army. They ask her if she can proof she was sent by god, but she claims that she didn't come to preform tricks, and that the fact that she traveled so far without being killed should be proof enough.
Joan, clad in armor and equiped with a banner, leads her army to Orléans. She devises an attack plan from the Boulevard des Tourelles, which the other soldiers say is reckless and makes no sense. Joan feels that she is being critisized because she is a girl and decides to cut her hair short like a man's. She has a letter to the English transcribed, politely requesting their surrender. Their response: "Go fuck yourself!"
The battle begins the next morning without Joan. By the time she arrives on the battlefield, they're already retreating. Furious with her soldier's disobediance, she ends the retreat and leads her army into another charge. Her horse leaps into the fort and she lowers the drawbridge, allowing her army to rush inside and take it. Afterwards, the French Army salvages an English trebuchet. With the fort taken, they find the tourelles, a gigantic stronghold that will be much more difficult to take. Joan gives the English another chance to surrender, which they refuse.
They begin their attack, with heavy losses. While climbing a ladder to the fort, Joan gets shot in the chest with an arrow. The seige is brought to a halt, and Joan barely survives. She leads the second seige the next morning. The French push a portable tower over and break the drawbridge, gaining entrance inside the tourelles. There is one last stronghold that has yet to be taken, heavily guarded by a big door. They break in and begin the last part of the battle when Joan has another vision, this one of Jesus screaming and bleeding violently from the head. Joan feels conflicted with the victory , uneasy about all the deaths that took place. That's when the English Army regroups on the other side of the river, soon to engage in warfare. Joan gives them another chance to surrender and return to England, which they miraciously do.
Joan has freed Orléans and returned to Reims to witness the crowning of Charles VII of France. Her military campaign continues to the Walls of Paris. Her 10,000 reinforcements never arrive, and the seige to take back the city is a failure. She tells King Charles VII to give her another army, but he only wants her to go home. The King conspires to get rid of Joan by letting her get captured by the English at Compiègne.
When he comes to in Rouen, a mysterious man in robes questions her romantic visions and vanishes. On trial, she refuses to cooperate by not taking an oath and constantly offends the court by doing so. Her Conscience appears in prison and continues to question her visions: wind, clouds, the dance: nothing. The sword was just a sword in a field, so he says. He gives many rational explinations as to how a sword appears in a field, and then show how irrational her idea of god giving her the sword seems. About to be burned, Joan is tricked into signing a paper so she can go to mass and be confessed. The Conscience says that she had just signed away god's existance, and that she abandoned god. The church says she cannot be burned as a heretic, since she recanted her beliefs.
While in prison, guards come and rip Joan's dress and give her man's clothing. They tell the head of the church that she conjured an evil spell to make the clothing appear, readressing her as a heretic. The Conscience hears her last confession: her signs were only what she wanted to believe and not sent by god, she fought in the name of revenge for her mother's death; she says that she was shelfish and cruel. Joan is burned to death.
Cast
- Milla Jovovich - Joan of Arc
- Dustin Hoffman - The Conscience
- Faye Dunaway - Yolande of Aragon
- John Malkovich - Charles VII of France
- Tchéky Karyo - Jean de Dunois
- Vincent Cassel - Gilles de Rais
- Pascal Greggory - The Duke of Alençon
- Richard Ridings - La Hire
- Desmond Harrington - Aulon
- Timothy West - Pierre Cauchon
- Rab Affleck - Comrade
- Stéphane Algoud - Look Out
- Edwin Apps - Bishop
- David Bailie - English Judge
- David Barber - English Judge
External links
- Historical analysis from the Joan of Arc Archive
- The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc at IMDb
- The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc at Box Office Mojo
