1994 ‘Jeanne la Pucelle I - Les Batailles’ Directed by Jacques Rivette
Joan of Arc leaves her childhood home after hearing what she believes to be the voice of God. Convinced that only she can lead France to victory against the invading English, she pleads Charles, heir to the throne, to allow her to guide his troops on the battlefield.
Sandrine Bonnaire Tatiana Moukhine Jean-Marie Richier Baptiste Roussillon Jean-Luc Petit Bernadette Giraud Jean-Claude Jay Olivier Cruveiller Benjamin Rataud Bruno Wolkowitch Quentin Ogier Yann Collette Cyril Haouzi Réginald Huguenin Patrick Adomian Nicolas Vian André Marcon Jean-Louis Richard Marcel Bozonnet Didier Sauvegrain Mathieu Busson Jean-Pierre Lorit Bernard Sobel Jérôme Nicolin Wilfred Benaïche Robert Lucibello Guy Martinez Guy Champrenault Jean-Pierre Becker Show All…
Giovanna d'Arco - Le battaglie, Jeanne la Pucelle I - Les batailles, Jeanne la Pucelle: The Battles
Jacques Rivette sacrifices his own stylistic tendencies at the alter of female divinity in “Joan the Maid I: The Battles.”
The Saint better known in her homeland as Jeanne d’Arc gave her life to nullify the crushing toll the Hundred Years War took on France. Rivette gives her a few hundred more minutes than that - over five hours worth of them - across two films. Each one of those minutes, spent in the assertion of Jeanne d’Arc’s legacy as the warrior foundation of her country. A patriot, before she ever was a saint.
At first, there is little in common between the literal-minded “Jeanne” and Rivette’s usual oeuvre. Absent errant actors and secret societies, the films seem thematically a…
English Version below
Verweile und im Verweilen öffnen sich dir der Raum zum Atmen. Atmend die tropfenden, vom Ruß eingebrannten Wände abprallender Feuchtigkeit brutzelnden Feuers; atmend die in der Luft eingefangene grau dunstige Schwere einer aus Büchern und Filmen implizierten Weisheit als die Zeitreise in das frühe 15. Jahrhundert; atmend die sich ausdehnende Zeit in Länge und Breite ihrer Grade des mittelalterlichen Frankreichs; atmend der gewebte Stoff verarbeitet in der Vergangenheit getragen mit ihren Ebenbilder unserer Zeit; atmend die sich legende Jahreszeiten in die Fugen eindringender Kälte, die das Fensterglas wärmenden Sonne, die die Luft fruchtig frisch anreichenden erblühenden Blumen und die Fensterläden schließenden Winde; atmend die den Federkiel verlassene Tinte zum Stempel ihres Jahres; atmend die Räume beschienen ihres…
A cinema of class and gender - and language. And though the language is always cutting with violence through it we see that it is not the classes or genders which have predispositions, but that it is always language or more specifically, speech. The 'battles' are class and gender against the barriers, predispositions and codifications of the spoken word. Cinema of the life
Rivette takes on historical epic and absolutely nails it...to the cross.
Don't expect the usual historical movie b.s. This is really more about what went on behind the scenes and is all the better for it bec the dialogue and the situations are meant to be historically accurate. Joan was first and foremost smart and intelligent before she was a great fighter.
Rivette has done a great job with the scale on a low-budget and William Lubtchansky has made sure that it doesn't look like filmed theater.
Holy shit. Just after Rivette released his masterpiece La Belle Noiseuse in 1993, he decided to direct two historical war epics about Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc). I think if he had it his way it could've been released as one film, although it is broken up nicely. Part 1: The Battles is 160 minutes long, whereas Part 2: The Prison is 176 minutes. Both were released the same year.
Rivette's works have often featured many characters around smaller and fewer locations of Paris, but this is different. It has all the characters a historical war epic should have with the amount of locations to match. If you know Rivette, you might think a war epic is…
Although Rivette strips down all the elements from straight forward medieval epic, Joan the Maid I still feels epic. The massive scope and depth he's able to capture in barren landscapes and drafty castle is astounding, but most importantly the absolute power of steadfast belief flattening everything around it to carry forward. Everything breaks down in front of Bonnaire's belief.
Jacques Rivette #10
I am reviewing both parts here and counting it as one film.
This is an incredibly personal epic, akin somewhat to Lawrence of Arabia (perhaps that's just in my mind at the moment) in that it follows a single, mesmerizing figure through a life of war and personal conviction. Unlike Lawrence, Joan the Maid adheres as close to historical fact as you're going to find outside of well made documentaries. Indeed, the documentary effect is reinforced as some characters tell parts of the tale to the camera at times, like talking heads.
Sandrine Bonnaire gives a stunning performance, quietly drawing you in. Multiple times, Joan is called on to defend her faith, and these moments far outstrip the battle sequences as moments of conflict and drama. For a war film, this is a very quiet movie. It has its share of bloodshed, and the ending is, of course, brutal. But its most powerful moments are entirely dialogue.
December count: 62/100.
“Give satisfaction to the King of Heaven,” the Maid writes to the English commanders, demanding their surrender. Her influence upon her people and world history should be taken at her word, not modern psychoanalysts' projections; it's God's influence, the divine absurdity of a humble child shepherdess charged with a mission to lead a near defeated country's defeatist army to victory. Irrational by any stretch of the imagination, but not unfamiliar to the biblically grounded. “She is come here by God’s will to reclaim the blood royal,” Jeanne says of herself, constantly acknowledging her role as unlikely instrument and rebuking the idolatries of her more superstitious followers. Pride isn't her game, it's duty, and that commitment is infectious. History is transformed…
I’ve said this multiple times, but my favorite aspect about Jacques Rivette is his ability to catch so much scope in each frame and utilize so much wide spaces, even if it’s just normal interiors. And this being a medieval “epic” (I use that word lightly because this strips down the genre in every sense) he’s able to do that here tenfold. The big, wide open French vistas, the castles, the barns, the homes…it’s all so beautifully captivating here and it’s done in quite a natural feeling way. And Sandrine Bonnaire? Definitely one of France’s GOATs. I’ve seen her in quite a few things and she’s always impressive. Gonna watch Part II next weekend and will post my full thoughts then, but man this was cool.
For me I have to ask, in a world in which The Passion of Joan of Arc exists is there a need for any other adaptation of her story? This film makes a really good case that there is. This film is the first part of two which adapts Joan of Arc’s story. These two movies are a thorough exploration of her story and maybe the truest to life. Realistic is the one word that describes this movie best. This is maybe the most realistic period piece I’ve ever seen, and definitely the most realistic film set in the 15th century.
This movie has two really big things going for it; Sandrine Bonnaire's portrayal of Joan of Arc and Rivette's…
Jacques Rivette's two-part, six-hour Jeanne la Pucelle strips away the religiosity surrounding the story of Joan of Arc and grounds his extremely detailed telling in firm realism. Rivette isn't so much interested in whether God actually speaks to Joan, as she repeatedly claims, as in how her convictions influence both her behavior and those of the many people who cross her path. Ultimately, through this near-documentary-style approach, this much-mythologized figure emerges as human being first, saint second: Moments in which she satisfies her deeply religious urges coexist with more offhand moments where she seems like, well, a normal girl.
Rivette titles Part I Les batailles (The Battles), but that title refers not just to physical skirmishes (which are mostly relegated…
Superb historical and dramaturgical precision, following a tradition set by Mizoguchi where the mise-en-scène and the staging are the true driving forces of the film, allowing Rivette to sink his discourse on gender, society, faith and his materialistic concerns to another degree of pure cinema, of incredibly sustained cohesion both structurally and tonally.
