Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc

2017

1h 45m

Musical

History

Drama

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Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc: Trailer 1

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80%

Tomatometer

44 Reviews

84%

Audience Score

500+ Ratings

Young shepherdess Jeannette, the future Joan of Arc, already carries the weight of the the French nation on her shoulders as she grapples with matters of the soul.

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Critics Consensus

Its unusual approach may not pay off quite as consistently as one might hope, but the boldly anachronistic Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc is definitely a biopic like no other.

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Ben Sachs

Chicago Reader

The results are one of a kind and certainly not for everyone, but if you can get on its wavelength, you'll find much to appreciate.

Apr 17, 2020

Full Review

David Lewis

San Francisco Chronicle

The biggest problem with "Jeannette," beyond what some may consider the blasphemous elements, is that Dumont limits his story to the less compelling parts of Joan's life - before she took on the British occupiers.

Rated: 2/4

Aug 9, 2018

Full Review

Ty Burr

Boston Globe

"Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc" is very likely the first medieval heavy-metal musical ever to grace the silver screen. Sadly, it's not quite as fun as that sounds.

Rated: 2/4

May 10, 2018

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Grant Watson

Fiction Machine

A full-bore arthouse feature - and depending on the viewer that means full-bore in more ways than one.

Rated: 6/10

Oct 27, 2021

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Dustin Chang

ScreenAnarchy

Jeannette gets a lot better in second viewing. You just have to work a little harder to dig through its genre trappings to see its austere beauty: the beauty in a young girl's unwavering, sacred devotion to god in free form.

Jul 17, 2020

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Eileen G'Sell

Hyperallergic

It's fun, absurd, and a bit burlesque -- ecstasy minus the agony of typical martyr narratives.

Feb 12, 2020

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Audience Member

Profound, disturbing, and beautiful. Dreyer's version is also worth watching, although only the last 30% is great. This entire film is great.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/15/23

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Audience Member

I take it that this is no one's favourite Bresson film. However, I found this return to his stylized world refreshing - there is no one quite like Bresson. Perhaps the choice of film content was so obvious that some reviewers felt he was going through the motions? Bresson has always focused on issues of faith and how challenges that a person faces might lead them to question their faith. So, Joan of Arc represents a person in such a challenging position - although perchance it is we the audience or Joan's interrogators from the Church who are really being challenged, given that Joan's faith nary wavers a bit. Bresson is also acknowledging Dreyer as one of his forebears, given the earlier director's transcendent version of this story, also based on the available transcripts from the trial. However, Bresson's version is far different from Dreyer's ecstatic take and instead almost mechanical in its stoic and restrained approach. But the inhibited nature of the film (and those typical shots of Joan's hands and feet, often in shackles) somehow elicits a heightened reaction from the viewer, as if the viewer must contribute him or herself the emotion and spiritual force that have been omitted on screen. Of course, modern viewers might be led to wonder whether Joan of Arc might have been experiencing schizophrenia, but the final shot of the stake after Joan has been burned suggests that Bresson did not share similar doubts.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

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Audience Member

It's no surprise that Bresson found Carl Theodor Dreyer's 1928 classic on Joan of Arc to be full of "grotesque buffooneries" considering the fact that the latter's film was full of emphatic physical expression, something Bresson nearly always shunned, one exception being in this very film where Joan of Arc is briefly seen weeping after her first interrogation. I did not find Bresson's film to be any more profound than Dreyer's, but I did admire the craft and Bresson's individuality that went into it. I also highly admired the performance given by Florence Delay as Joan of Arc. She was nowhere near as expressive as Maria Falconetti, but there was a certain angelic resoluteness about her which she portrayed as being tainted only by youthful trepidation. It was an incredibly honest performance.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/25/23

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Audience Member

In my opinion it is one of Bresson's weakest works.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

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Audience Member

Outro de Bresson, sobre Joana D'Arc, baseado em documentos do julgamento.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

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Audience Member

A very different film from Dreyer's Joan tale, particularly relative to faith. While Dreyer's film seems to be asking "Will you believe?" Bresson's film instead seems to suggest, "How can you not?" The final ten minutes are exquisite, with rhythmic editing, that wonderfully mysterious dog, and the beautiful feet taking the cross to the flames. The film is certainly austere, but Bresson builds to a formal crescendo unsurpassed in his filmography.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/26/23

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Bruno Dumont

Director

Lise Leplat Prudhomme

Jeannette

Lucile Gauthier

Hauviette

Jeanne Voisin

Jeanne

Aline Charles

Sainte Marguerite

Elise Charles

Sainte Marguerite

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Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc: Trailer 1

2:24

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Synopsis

Young shepherdess Jeannette, the future Joan of Arc, already carries the weight of the the French nation on her shoulders as she grapples with matters of the soul.

Director: Bruno Dumont
Screenwriter: Bruno Dumont
Production Co: Procirep, Le Fresnoy Studio National des Arts Contemporains, Arte France, Centre national de la Cinématographie, Angoa-Agicoa, Pictanovo, SACEM
Genre: Musical, History, Drama
Original Language: French (France)
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 22, 2018
Runtime: 1h 45m

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