A young girl receives a vision that drives her to rid France of its oppressors.A young girl receives a vision that drives her to rid France of its oppressors.A young girl receives a vision that drives her to rid France of its oppressors.
- Awards
- 5 wins & 13 nominations
Videos1
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- See more cast details at IMDbPro
Storyline
- Genres
- Certificate
- 15
- Parents guide
Did you know
- TriviaMost of the characters in the film, including Joan's Captains, were real historical people. Giles de Rais (Vincent Cassel) was a real person who, after the war, and Joan's death, retired to his lands. Many years later, he was arrested for the murder of more than one hundred young boys and was executed. Some historians believe that his crimes became the basis for the French fairy tale "Bluebeard", about a rich man who murders his wives and hides their bodies in his grand house.
- GoofsJoan's older sister was not murdered by soldiers, but survived to adulthood and married. She died ultimately in childbirth.
- Quotes
Joan of Arc: I've always been faithful to God and I've followed everything He's ever said and I've done everything He's ever asked me to do.
The Conscience: God asked you to do something?
Joan of Arc: Yes. Yes, lots of things.
The Conscience: You mean God said, "I need you, Jeanne."
Joan of Arc: No. But He sent me signs.
The Conscience: Signs? What signs?
Joan of Arc: The wind. The wind. And the clouds, ringing!
The Conscience: Ringing clouds?
Joan of Arc: The dance. The dance. The dance. The dance.
The Conscience: The dance.
Joan of Arc: The sword! The sword lying in the field. That was a sign.
The Conscience: No. That was a sword in a field.
Joan of Arc: No. No, that was a sign!
The Conscience: No. That was a sword. In a field.
Joan of Arc: It can't just get there by itself! It can't. A sword just doesn't get there by itself. It can't just get there by itself.
The Conscience: True. Every event has an infinite number of causes, so why pick one rather than another? There are many ways a sword might find itself in a field.
- Alternate versionsThe European release was 10 minutes longer than the US theatrical version, which omits, among others, the scene where Joan's virginity is tested before the court of King Charles VII. The longer version has been released in the USA on DVD.
- SoundtracksMy Heart Calling
Lyrics and Music by Éric Serra and Achinoam Nini
Produced by Éric Serra
Performed by Achinoam Nini
With the Special Authorization of Interscope/Geffen
Before I saw this one, I saw the other recent one, with Leelee Sobieski in the lead role. Both are wonderful movies, and very different in their approach. I think Milla Jovovich's performance as Joan in this one is truly great. She is, at various times, an innocent peasant trying to follow God's call, and a half-crazed warrior bent of exterminating the British who won't leave her land.
Luc Besson directed "The Messenger" in a more epic style, sometimes going overboard with battle scenes, and "50 ways to kill your enemy." But he also used grand music, great special effects, and one of the best uses of front and rear channel surround sound on the Dolby Digital 5.1 DVD version. There also is a good dollop of low-frequency bass that tests your subwoofer, and rattles your picture frames. Without a modern home-theater sound system, this would be a totally different and inferior movie experience.
One of the "extras" on the DVD is a featurette, narrated primarily my Milla Jovovich, which delves into the "making of" this film. They did extensive research in France, used some of the translations of the original trial transcript, and used 15th century drawings of events in her life to model the costumes and sets. The result is a very realistic portrayal of the historical events in those two years, 1429 through 1431, when Joan was 17 through 19, and lead the French army against the British to save France.
The film makes clever use of a fictional character called "the Conscience", played by Dustin Hoffman. He shows up when Joan is in prison awaiting trial. No one else can see him, he is obviously a vision, that she talks to, and expresses her doubts. Some have said this makes the film an "atheistic" view of Joan. I strongly disagree. To me it brings out more clearly her humanity, her natural doubts about what she really heard from God, and what she may have done on her own. Her asking for "confession" and forgiveness is a natural response for someone who was so strongly grounded in her Catholic faith.
All-in-all, for someone wanting both an entertaining and significant movie experience, "The Messenger" delivers. It is a bit long, almost 3 hours, but it never gets slow or boring. In addition to Jovovich and Hoffman, John Malkovich is good as the Dauphin who becomes king of France, and Faye Dunnaway as his stepmother. I rate this movie a strong "8" of 10.
- TxMike
- Oct 25, 2000
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $85,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $14,276,317
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $6,360,968
- Nov 14, 1999
- Gross worldwide
- $66,976,317
- Runtime2 hours 38 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
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