Joan the Maid

Joan the Maid is a 1994 French historical film directed by Jacques Rivette. Chronicling the life of Joan of Arc from the French perspective, it was released in two parts: Joan the Maid, Part 1: The Battles and Joan the Maid, Part 2: The Prisons.

Cast

Sandrine Bonnaire as Jeanne d'Arc
Édith Scob as Jeanne de Béthune
Tatiana Moukhine as Isabelle Romée
Jean-Marie Richier as Durand Laxart
Baptiste Roussillon as Baudricourt
Jean-Luc Petit as Henri Le Royer
Bernadette Giraud as Catherine Le Royer
Jean-Claude Jay as Jacques Alain
Olivier Cruveiller as Jean de Metz
Benjamin Rataud as Bertrand de Poulengy
André Marcon as Charles, Dauphin of France
Jean-Louis Richard as La Trémoille
Marcel Bozonnet as Regnault de Chartres
Patrick Le Mauff as Jean Bâtard d'Orléans
Didier Sauvegrain as Raoul de Gaucourt
Jean-Pierre Lorit as Jean d'Alençon
Bruno Wolkowitch as Gilles de Laval
Hélène de Fougerolles as Jeanne de Bar

Releases

In the original version, Jeanne la pucelle I: Les batailles ran for 160 minutes, and Jeanne la pucelle II: Les prisons for 176 minutes, totalling 336 minutes.
American DVD releases removed significant portions; Joan the Maid: The Battles ran for 110 minutes, and Joan the Maid: The Prisons for 116 minutes, totalling 226 minutes.
A 4K restoration was released in August 2019, with a Blu-ray seeing release in December 2019.

Reception

Glenn Kenny calls the film "essential cinema", in which the director "... applies a cinematic style that’s both impassioned and elegantly simple and rational to Joan’s inner and outer life, using long takes and brilliantly considered camera movements throughout."