In
the fifth century, the Frankish kings siezed control of much
of France, but had to defend the territory against attacks
by Viking warriors. In 991 the French capitulated in the Treaty
of St. Clair-sur-Epte, establishing the dukedom of Normande,
and the Norsemen soon took over the northwest part of France
(now the province of Normande). The Normans then consolidated
their domain, holding back attacks from Sweden and England.
In 1066 Duke William of Normande led a Viking army that conquered
England. With England and Normandy united, the English kings
sought to expand their domain on the continent. Wars between
England and France then continued off and on for four centuries,
the last century of which was known as the Hundred Years War.
In 1420, the French king Charles VI signed the Treaty of Troyes
with the English king Henry V, providing that England would
take over France when Charles VI died, thereby disinheriting
his eldest son, known in French as the "Dauphin." However,
both kings died within months of each other, and the French
court refused to accept the terms of the treaty, whereupon
the English court, headed by the Duke of Bedford in the minority
of Henry VI, decided upon a final drive to conquer France
in 1422. The kingdom of Burgundy, the richest country in Europe,
allied with the English while engaged in the civil war with
France after arranging to assassinate Charles VI's brother.
When the film The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc
begins in 1420, the English are burning Domrémy, a small village
in Lorraine, and killing the inhabitants, including Jeanne's
family; she is then adopted by a nearby aunt and uncle. Soon,
Jeanne then claims to see visions of St. Michael, Saint Catherine,
and Saint Margaret, and requests an audience with the foppish
Dauphin (played by John Malkovich), the disinherited heir
to the throne, at the court in Chinon. Persuaded by his mother-in-law
Yolande d'Aragón (played by Faye Dunaway), Charles agrees
to the audience and receives seventeen-year-old Jeanne (played
by Milla Jovovich), who delivers the message that God wants
her to inspire an army to drive the English from France so
that he can be crowned king, according to custom, at Rheims.
Jeanne then dons battle gear (in actuality she was already
outfitted in armor by an army captain when she met the Dauphin,
contrary to the film ) and leads a victorious series of battles
to the chagrin of the cautious French military commanders,
in one case bloodlessly by telling the English to "go home,"
whereupon they retreat. (The standard embroidered for her
bearing is the fleur-de-lys, which the film has sewed onto
some of the men's uniforms.) In 1429, the Dauphin is crowned
Charles VII, and the English abandon the siege of Orléans.
Jeanne continues in battle, albeit horrified by the carnage,
but is ultimately captured by the Burgundians outside Paris
in 1430, who turn her over to Jean de Luxembourg, who in turn
sells her to the English authorities in Normandy. (Contrary
to the film, Charles VII made no effort to save her. The Duke
of Bedford did not intervene either.) The English turn her
over to English-supporting French clerics (who have English
accents in the film), who put her on trial for heresy and
witchcraft, but they are confounded by her answers to their
questions on religious matters. After much pressure, she signs
a paper confessing her heresy, for which the penalty is life
imprisonment, but she soon recants. Accordingly, the clerics
turn her over the secular authorities, who accuse her of witchcraft
because she wears men's clothes (though the clerics themselves
wear robes and not pants), for which the penalty is to be
burned at the stake. We then witness the burning (without
the gays who were customarily burned below witches as faggots
for the pyre), which took place at Rouen, the capital of Normandy,
in 1431. Directed by Luc Besson (the spouse of Milla Jovovich
at the time of the filming), the movie depicts the French
as basically peaceloving and unfit for battle until inspired
by Jeanne d'Arc, whereas the English are viewed as militaristic,
uncouth, and perfidious. We see Jeanne pleading for peace
before each battle and miraculously recovering from two deep
wounds inflicted by arrows, but her obsessive need to confess
the slightest sins to priests suggests that she was insane.
An odd element in the film, the tenth attempt to produce a
feature film on the "maid of Orléans," is the appearance in
prison of Jeanne's conscience (played by Dustin Hoffman),
who places doubts in her mind about her visions, though the
historical record shows that such doubts, leading to her confession
of heresy, came during the interrogation by clerics. For those
stimulated by the history lesson but in suspense about events
not capsulized on the screen, France drove the English from
Normandy (but not Burgundy) in 1450. Jeanne's trial was annulled
by the French in 1450, and she was declared to be a saint
by the Vatican in 1920. MH
I
want to comment on this film
