Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc (French: Jeannette, l’enfance de Jeanne d’Arc) is a 2017 French musical film directed by Bruno Dumont. It was screened in the Directors’ Fortnight section at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.[1][2] It was followed two years later by the non-musical sequel Joan of Arc, which premiered at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, written and directed by Dumont and with Lise Leplat Prudhomme reprising her role. The script is an adaptation of the play The Mystery of the Charity of Joan of Arc, written in 1910 by the Catholic author Charles Péguy.
| Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| French | Jeannette, l’enfance de Jeanne d’Arc |
| Directed by | Bruno Dumont |
| Written by | Bruno Dumont |
| Based on |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Guillaume Deffontaines |
| Edited by |
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| Music by | Igorrr |
Release dates |
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Running time | 115 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
Plot
editSet in France during the Hundred Years’ War, the film portrays Joan of Arc’s religious awakening and her decision to fight against the English invasion.
Cast
edit- Lise Leplat Prudhomme as Jeannette
- Jeanne Voisin as Jeannette (older)
- Lucile Gauthier as Hauviette (age 8)
- Victoria Lefebvre as Hauviette (age 13)
- Aline Charles as Madame Gervaise/Sainte Marguerite
- Elise Charles as Madame Gervaise/Sainte Catherine
- Nicolas Leclaire as Durand Lassois
- Anaïs Rivière as Saint Michel
- Gery De Poorter as Jacques d’Arc
- Regine Delalin as Isabeau d’Arc
Release
editThe film had its world premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight section at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.[3] It was released in France on 6 September 2017.[4]
Reception
editCritical reception
editReview aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 74% based on 34 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The website’s critical consensus reads, “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.”[5] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 62 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating “generally favorable reviews.”[6]
In the Boston Globe, Ty Burr described the film as “very likely the first medieval heavy-metal musical ever to grace the silver screen” and “deeply and unsettlingly strange,” providing “genuine oddball pleasures amid stretches of real tedium.”[7] Simon Abrams of RogerEbert.com gave the film 3½ out of 4 stars, calling it “a challenging arthouse drama that has a slippery sense of humor and a whole lot of chutzpah.”[8] Sam C. Mac of Slant Magazine said, “As an exploration of Joan of Arc in cinema narrative, the film isn’t as rich and substantial as Bresson’s The Trial of Joan of Arc or Dreyer‘s The Passion of Joan of Arc, but Dumont‘s more flexible sense of spiritualism makes it nonetheless compelling."[9]
Conversely, Jordan Mintzer of The Hollywood Reporter said, “The acting outside the singing is often on the level of a class play, and the repetition of musical numbers and kitschy dances can grow tiresome to say the least, but you have to give Dumont credit for making something so silly seem so filled with conviction.”[10] Peter Debruge of Variety called it “a blasphemous assault on French history, religion, and the musical genre.”[11]
Meanwhile, John Waters placed the film at the top of his best-of list for 2017, writing: “An insanely radical heavy-metal grade-school religious pageant that is sung in French from beginning to end. The actors themselves seem like they might burst out laughing, but this is no joke. It’s the best movie of the year. You’ll hate it.”
Cahiers du cinéma placed the film at number 2 on its list of the top 10 films of 2017.[12]
Accolades
edit| Award | Year of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Louis Delluc Prize | 2017 | Best Film | Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc | Nominated | [13] |
| Lumières Award | 2018 | Best Music | Igorrr | Nominated | [14] |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Fortnight 2017: The 49th Directors' Fortnight Selection". Directors’ Fortnight. Archived from the original on 19 April 2017. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
- ^ Keslassy, Elsa (19 April 2016). "Cannes: Juliette Binoche-Gerard Depardieu Drama to Kick Off Directors Fortnight". Variety. Penske Business Media. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
- ^ Lemercier, Fabien (4 May 2017). "Luxbox boasts some powerful ammo on its Cannes line-up". Cineuropa. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
- ^ "Jeannette, l'enfance de Jeanne d'Arc". AlloCiné. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
- ^ "Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc (Jeannette l'enfance de Jeanne d'Arc) (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
- ^ "Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
- ^ Burr, Ty (9 May 2018). "Before she was Joan of Arc". The Boston Globe. Boston Globe Media Partners. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
- ^ Abrams, Simon (13 April 2018). "Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc". RogerEbert.com. Ebert Digital LLC. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
- ^ Mac, Sam C. (21 May 2017). "Bruno Dumont's Jeanette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
- ^ Mintzer, Jordan (21 May 2017). "'Jeanette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc': Film Review | Cannes 2017". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
- ^ Debruge, Peter (21 May 2017). "Cannes Film Review: 'Jeannette, the Childhood of Joan of Arc'". Variety. Penske Business Media. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
- ^ "Top 10 2017". Cahiers du cinéma. Archived from the original on 6 January 2018. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
- ^ Lemercier, Fabien (22 November 2017). "Nine hopefuls for the 2017 Louis-Delluc Prize". Cineuropa. Archived from the original on 25 August 2018. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
- ^ Richford, Rhonda (5 February 2018). "'120 BPM' Tops France's Lumiere Awards". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 24 March 2018. Retrieved 22 March 2020.