Joan of Arc ** (1999, Milla Jovovich, Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway, John Malkovich, Timothy West) – Classic Movie Review 4806

Director Luc Besson remakes the story famous story about the French farm girl turned great martyr of Orleans in 15th century France, which provided a turgid 1948 vehicle for Ingrid Bergman, also called Joan of Arc, in his equally stodgy 1999 film Joan of Arc.

Besson’s film means well but it is a tedious, gory and interminable-seeming biopic (at 148 minutes), lifted by a feisty performance by Milla Jovovich as a nevertheless rather too modern Joan of Arc and some impressive graphic battle scenes. It is a costly production, at $85 million, and looks it.

It is sad to say that notably bad performances by the esteemed American actors – Dustin Hoffman (as The Conscience) , Faye Dunaway (as Yolande of Aragon) and John Malkovich (as Charles VII) – help to scupper the movie.

It will probably come as no surprise that the enemy English, as seen here from the French point of view, are nasty, brutish, comical and short. The screenplay is written by Besson and Andrew Birkin.

Also in the cast are Timothy West, Timothy Bateson, Andrew Birkin, Tchéky Karyo, Gina McKee and Paul Brooke.

Joan of Arc is MPAA rated R for strong graphic battles, a rape and some language.

It is also known as The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc.

The story is also told in Joan of Arc (1948) with Ingrid Bergman and Saint Joan (1957) with Jean Seberg.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4806

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