The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc

This movie ranks as one of the most disappointing films of all time. Jovovich's acting was terrible. I grew to dislike her more every minute. The character she portrays is more psychotic than heroic. She comes across as someone who would suffer a nervous breakdown over a trip to the grocery store, not someone who could inspire an army. The script was laughable. I don't understand why they didn't try to use more period language. I cringed at some of the lines ("Everything will be fine.") Why stars like Dunaway and Hoffman would appear in this film is beyond me.

Besson's version of the story of Joan of Arc offended me on many levels. The opening sequences of the movie feature the gruesome murder and rape (in that order) of Joan's sister. This was completely unnecessary and untrue. While it is fact that Joan's town was raided several times and on one occasion burned by the English; Joan of Arc had 2 brothers, but no sisters. This alone was enough to ruin the movie for me, since Besson proceeds to build a case that all of Joan's actions and her descent into insanity were caused by the horrific death of her sister. Besson also inexplicably created a sinister tormentor for Joan, played by Dustine Hoffman. Hoffman's character who continually played the devil's advocate to a clearly insane Joan, was just plain annoying, confusing, and yet another fabrication. Besson's Joan was never seen having the visions of St. Margaret, St. Catherine, and St. Michael which the real Joan of Arc was reported to have. Instead she saw a twisted and almost demonic Christ figure and the strange Dustin Hoffman character. For Besson to portray a saint and a French national hero in such a manner was purely offensive and in poor taste. Had Besson actually bothered to base his story on historical fact I may have felt differently. If you see this movie, regard it only as a work of fiction, for it bears little in common with the real Joan of Arc other than her name and that she freed Orleans.

I saw a comment that said that if Joan of Arc could see this movie, she would turn in her grave (if she had some). I must fully agree with it. Although I am no Joan's biographer, the facts that I know from her life were so deformed here that I wonder why Frenchmen didn't burn the director on a stockpile instead of her. By the way, I must laugh, when I remember the concealment around the filming of Besson's Joan in northern Moravia. No man including Martians could get there. Why did they actually hide there? Perhaps they wanted to keep back from people, what a trash they are just shooting. Besson and his exwife allegedly undertook a deep investigation (only Gods know, where) and this French-Ukrainian collaboration resulted in a title, where Joan of Arc is "demythicized" and depicted as a furious psychotic, who runs through the screen with a staring look and even beats her soldiers with a fist (yes, here it is really possible). Poor villagers at the trial in Rouen probably lied and Besson with Jovovich revealed a big historical fraud. One thing that I can't understand is why there are so many people that can call this unbelievable garbage "a moving masterpiece". Maybe there is a lot of ignorants, who know nothing about the historical reality and maybe they have only a foggy idea about the position of France, but despite that I can't believe that somebody could think that French soldiers could follow a lunatic like this. I am very sorry for director Marshall, who also planned a movie about Joan, but he was probably forced to put off its realization because of this silly emanation that was quicker. The Joan with Leelee Sobieski was certainly better, but Leelee simply lacks enough charisma (Although otherwise she is a very pretty and sympathetic girl, of course.) Maybe Besson will soon make a similar biographical movie about Mother Theresa, where he will definitively demythicize her as a deviant monster abusing little Indian children. I am looking forward to positive comments on this exciting masterpiece.

I found Luc Besson's take on the story of Joan of Arc thoroughly compelling. Like all of Besson's films, The Messenger is highly stylized, nicely cast, and visually powerful. The film is also forgivably anachronistic in terms of language while developing a strong period feel through sets and costume. Joan was, of course, the deeply religious teenage girl who lead Prince Charles' army to improbable victory over the invading English at Orleans and helped re-consolidate French sovereignty. Joan considered herself God's appointed messenger, and France apparently saw her as an avenging angel. Today, she is commonly regarded as a schizophrenic. She was canonized in the 1950s, 500 years after her death. Regardless of whether God or insanity was the source of her strength, power, will and incredible courage - there is little ambiguity about her role in the salvation of France nor the fate that awaited her afterward. In general, the acting is quite good. Jovovich's much-maligned performance is actually very good and exactly appropriate for what Besson was trying to do with the film. Comparing Joan of Arc to her other Messianic role as Leelu in the Fifth Element is, frankly, ridiculous. I believe that the problems people find in Jovovich's performance are problems those same people bring to the film. Malkovich and Dunaway are phenomenal. Tcheky Karyo and Vincent Cassell provide excellent support. Besson strays from what we think we know about the details of Joan's story, but only to present the truth of the big-picture more accurately. His film steadfastly refuses to answer the questions many people will bring to it: * Was Joan schizophrenic? * Was she a catholic messiah or divinely inspired prophet? Why is Besson so careful about accurately presenting the ambiguity of the story? I think he wanted to make a moving film, but not a film which would unsubtly challenge its audience's beliefs. If you do not believe, you will tend to explain Dustin Hoffman's character as a manifestation of Joan's psychological problems. If you do believe, you may want to think of him as Satan, am angel, perhaps both. Thus, Besson, who is a deeply spiritual person, makes a powerful statement about faith through his metanarrative while maintaining an appropriately unevangelical position. He took similar paths in his more uplifting films The Fifth Element and Angel-A. Highly recommended for Besson and Jovovich fans. Not a biography - avoid this if you must have the "plain" facts! Mildly recommended as a piece of historical fiction.

Joan of Arc the legend which was described as saint, warrior, frantic, heretic etc. is brilliantly played by Milla Jovovich. This movie isn't the typical hero stuff you would expect. It has many sides to think of and gives you space to make your own thoughts about the character Joan of Arc. And that is exactly what I liked the most about the movie. You can almost feel what this very young woman must have felt to be on the battlefield at this age, fighting for her vision, faith or whatever it was. Intoxicated by the battles and her mission to fight the war for god, for France. Besides from that you will see a lot of battles. Great visuals and good to memorable acting. Most people seem to get the movie wrong. They probably wanted a clean hero saga or some documentary movie, I don't know. This movie is something different. Sometimes you have to read between the lines, make your own thoughts. But as I said, that's what I like and that's what I want from a good movie. 10/10

Respected readers ,, When I saw "Joan of Arc: the Messenger", the thing that moved me most was its closeness to reality. I think that every person who wishes for "peace around the world" should watch this movie . I liked the conversation between joan and god(during the end ) very much. I think that joan had the right approach. She always asked for peace before any war began. Its because of people like Joan that people around the world are enjoying freedom. Milla Jovovich has done justice to the role. She certainly deserved an oscar for this performance. Unfortunately, these days,the judges(for oscar awards) are not choosing the winner properly. But i for one , will remember this performance for ever. Keep it up Milla. I sincerely hope that this movie inspires everybody to look at life in the right perspective. Hats off to Joan of Arc.

When our entire high school went to see Ingrid Bergman's Joan of Arc, we were led to believe that the film told the story as it really happened. Now, students might believe the same about The Messenger. Too bad. This is an awful film, much shouting about nothing and poorly directed. No wonder Dustin Hoffman is hidden in the shadows and Faye Dunnaway smirks the entire time.