Joan the Maid
(Jeanne la Pucelle)

Screening on Film

Directed by Jacques Rivette.
With Sandrine Bonnaire, Tatiana Moukhine, Jean-Marie Richier.
France, 1994, 35mm, color, 336 min.
French with English subtitles.

Based on the oft-told story of Joan of Arc, Rivette’s two-part epic stars Sandrine Bonnaire in an unsentimental portrait of the French heroine. Part one chronicles the initial spiritual calling which drove Joan to battles in Domremy and Orleans; part two features her imprisonment by the British and her public execution. Notably omitted from the story is Joan’s well-documented trial, which provided inspiration for both Carl Theodor Dreyer and Robert Bresson. The performance of Bonnaire and the distanced cinematography of Rivette elevate the events of the film by embracing the more quotidian concerns of this fabled figure.