... She was in his earlier work, La Femme Nikita where she was rather good, extremely annoying in the abysmal Fifth Element, and here, in The Messenger, she goes far beyond annoying. She is the central focus of virtually every scene...no, she IS EVERY SCENE. This is nothing more than a Milla star ... Read review
The year is 1429. France is in polical and religious turmoil as members of the royal ... more
family battle for rule. But one peasant girl from a remote village gave her country the miracle it was looking for. Milla Jovovich is Joan of Arc a young woman who wo...
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Starring Milla Jovovich (The Fifth Element, He Got Game), Oscar winner Dustin Hoffman, ... more
Oscar winner Faye Dunaway and Oscar nominee John Malkovich, internationally acclaimed director Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, Leon, The Big Blue) brings you Joan Of ...
In 1429 a teenage girl from a remote French village stood before her King with a message ... more
she claimed came from God: that she would treat the world's greatest army and liberate her country from its political and religious turmoil. As this small voice in the heart of a simple girl grew stronger rulers were drawn to listen, armies empowered to fight and her countrymen inspired to believe. Following her mission to reclaim God's diminished kingdom - through her amazing victories until her violent and untimely death - the life of Joan of Arc is explored in this startling epic.
The sixth film adaptation of the brief but eventful life of Joan of Arc, Luc Besson's The ... more
Messenger (1999) is the least spiritual of the cinematic versions. Tracing Joan's progression from military messiah to Sophoclean philosopher, The Messengeris nevertheless a highly diverting costume drama enlivened further by the director's supercharged visual style. Long-time Besson composer Eric Serra (Leon, The Fifth Element) returns, along with his customary fusion of expansive orchestral writing, keyboards, samples, and electronic percussion. The disc begins with a warmly presented theme for winds and strings that is reworked into a pleasant end title song ("My Heart Calling"). This material is quickly dispatched and replaced with several ambient, non-orchestral mixes of keyboards and programmed sounds ("Secrets Of A Strange Wind"). Serra's overlapping layers of experimental textures are counterpointed by a solo violin courtesy of first chair Gavyn Wright, whose lyrical, mid-to-high range lines weave throughout the 27-track programme. A brassier, kinetic profile is assumed in "The Tourelles", while Serra lends his own, Dominic Miller-esque acoustic guitar to "La Hire's Lucky Charm". Finally, there are the grandiloquent medieval incantations, impressive in scale if overly familiar in their Carl Orff-ish origins ("Armaturam Dei", "Rex Coronatur"). All in all, The Messenger reveals Serra's unique ability to break down the traditional barriers between seemingly disparate musical genres. The sound quality is spacious and dynamic, while Sony's packaging includes a still collage and photos from the original recording sessions. --Kevin Mulhall
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Over the years, many film directors have attempted to tell the story of legendary ... more
15th-century heroine Joan of Arc, a simple country girl who claimed she was inspired by God to lead the French troops in a victorious assault on the mighty English army. Luc Besson's 1999 epic might not be the best version of her life, but it's certainly the biggest. The movie cost a reported $60 million. Even if you are terminally unimpressed by the scale of such recent blockbusters asGladiator, your eyes will pop out at the sheer number of bodies (living and dead) that Besson has assembled for the dynamic battle scenes. The lavish sets and costumes are almost equally gobsmacking, though neither will show to maximum advantage on the small screen. That's a pity because size is the only thingJoan of Arcreally has going for it--as a human drama, it falls completely flat.The historical Joan was eventually made a saint by the Catholic Church, and earlier biopics tended to treat her celestial visions as literal fact. It was probably a mistake for Besson and his co-screenwriter Andrew Birkin to take a more psychological approach and present them as figments of her hysterical imagination. It makes it hard to work up the necessary empathy when the spectacle revolves around a confused and neurotic babe who couldn't organise a Tupperware party, let alone a vast military campaign. Milla Jovovich (the star of Besson's previousThe Fifth Elementand formerly his wife) doesn't help matters with her shrill and amateurish performance. But a couple of the supporting players are passably amusing--John Malkovich camps it up energetically as Charles, the dispossessed French king whom Joan reinstates, while Faye Dunaway wears outlandish headgear and carries on like a science-fiction creation in the role of his scheming mother-in-law. (The less said the better about Dustin Hoffman's pompous turn as Joan's personified conscience.) Besson keeps to the same glossy visual style even when the Maid is burning at the stake, but it isn't enough to prevent this empty shell of a movie from being a colossal yawn. --Peter Matthews
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In the US, 1999 may be remembered as the year of Joan of Arc: NBC created a miniseries in ... more
her honor, Carl Dreyer's long-lostThe Passion of Joan of Arcwas discovered in a mental hospital, and Facets re-released Jacques Rivette'sJoan the Maid. Luc Besson rounds out the corpus with his stylistic and vaguely heretical grand-scale feature,The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc.Besson (La Femme Nikita,The Fifth Element) challenges established notions about the Maid of Orleans as he creates a decidedly more human heroine than have previous biopics. The story line is the same--a young, illiterate peasant girl convinces the Dauphin of France to give her an army, and she leads them to victory in Orleans, only to be burned at the stake for heresy--but Milla Jovovich, in the title role, is a woman possessed. Her influences are less than heavenly; as a child she witnesses the murder of her sister by the English, a death caused by the sister's giving her hiding place to young Joan, which causes an intense desire for revenge. Yes, God still speaks to Joan, but even this is undermined, as Dustin Hoffman, playing The Conscience, questions her motives.Cinematically,The Messengeris stunning, with fantastical sequences of Joan in communication with higher powers. Yet the graphic violence (scenes include random decapitation and a dog gnawing on a body); the uneven accents, which make it difficult to tell who is fighting on which side; and the rewriting of lore may make this version of Joan of Arc appeal only to Besson fans. Jovovich is convincing, and while at times the film may drag (at times you wish they'd hurry up and burn her), it is a remarkable and insightful retelling of a well-known piece of history.--Jenny Brown
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Over the years, many film directors have attempted to tell the story of legendary ... more
15th-century heroine Joan of Arc, a simple country girl who claimed she was inspired by God to lead the French troops in a victorious assault on the mighty English army. Luc Besson's 1999 epic might not be the best version of her life, but it's certainly the biggest. The movie cost a reported $60 million. Even if you are terminally unimpressed by the scale of such recent blockbusters asGladiator, your eyes will pop out at the sheer number of bodies (living and dead) that Besson has assembled for the dynamic battle scenes. The lavish sets and costumes are almost equally gobsmacking, though neither will show to maximum advantage on the small screen. That's a pity because size is the only thingJoan of Arcreally has going for it--as a human drama, it falls completely flat.The historical Joan was eventually made a saint by the Catholic Church, and earlier biopics tended to treat her celestial visions as literal fact. It was probably a mistake for Besson and his co-screenwriter Andrew Birkin to take a more psychological approach and present them as figments of her hysterical imagination. It makes it hard to work up the necessary empathy when the spectacle revolves around a confused and neurotic babe who couldn't organise a Tupperware party, let alone a vast military campaign. Milla Jovovich (the star of Besson's previousThe Fifth Elementand formerly his wife) doesn't help matters with her shrill and amateurish performance. But a couple of the supporting players are passably amusing--John Malkovich camps it up energetically as Charles, the dispossessed French king whom Joan reinstates, while Faye Dunaway wears outlandish headgear and carries on like a science-fiction creation in the role of his scheming mother-in-law. (The less said the better about Dustin Hoffman's pompous turn as Joan's personified conscience.) Besson keeps to the same glossy visual style even when the Maid is burning at the stake, but it isn't enough to prevent this empty shell of a movie from being a colossal yawn. --Peter Matthews
Postage & Packaging:£1.21 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Over the years, many film directors have attempted to tell the story of legendary ... more
15th-century heroine Joan of Arc, a simple country girl who claimed she was inspired by God to lead the French troops in a victorious assault on the mighty English army. Luc Besson's 1999 epic might not be the best version of her life, but it's certainly the biggest. The movie cost a reported $60 million. Even if you are terminally unimpressed by the scale of such recent blockbusters asGladiator, your eyes will pop out at the sheer number of bodies (living and dead) that Besson has assembled for the dynamic battle scenes. The lavish sets and costumes are almost equally gobsmacking, though neither will show to maximum advantage on the small screen. That's a pity because size is the only thingJoan of Arcreally has going for it--as a human drama, it falls completely flat.The historical Joan was eventually made a saint by the Catholic Church, and earlier biopics tended to treat her celestial visions as literal fact. It was probably a mistake for Besson and his co-screenwriter Andrew Birkin to take a more psychological approach and present them as figments of her hysterical imagination. It makes it hard to work up the necessary empathy when the spectacle revolves around a confused and neurotic babe who couldn't organise a Tupperware party, let alone a vast military campaign. Milla Jovovich (the star of Besson's previousThe Fifth Elementand formerly his wife) doesn't help matters with her shrill and amateurish performance. But a couple of the supporting players are passably amusing--John Malkovich camps it up energetically as Charles, the dispossessed French king whom Joan reinstates, while Faye Dunaway wears outlandish headgear and carries on like a science-fiction creation in the role of his scheming mother-in-law. (The less said the better about Dustin Hoffman's pompous turn as Joan's personified conscience.) Besson keeps to the same glossy visual style even when the Maid is burning at the stake, but it isn't enough to prevent this empty shell of a movie from being a colossal yawn. --Peter Matthews
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Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Production Year: 2003 - Drama - Director: Michael Winterbottom - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Tim Robbins, Samantha Morton, Om Puri, Jeanne Balibar
Advantages: great battle scenes Disadvantages: Milla is in every single scene and she's simply not very good...no...DAMN ANNOYING
...be honest - it was the trailor which drew me to this movie. Loads of medieval battle scenes, mud and iron...you know the kind of thing - there was no way I wasn't going to give it a look. Furthermore, it is directed by Luc Besson - who also directed the gritty 'La Femme Nikita' and stars some big Hollywood names like Duston Hoffman and John Malkovich...so it couldn't be all bad. Or could it?
Personally I hated this movie. It does ... ...how they won victory over the invading British armies under her command. I'm not going to delve into the story too much, because, I'll be perfectly honest, whilst I like all the medieval battles etc. the rest of all this historical posturing can go hang as far as I am concerned. Even more so when a movie is this bad.
Basically Luc Besson has an obvious, undeniable infatuation with Milla Jovovich. She was in his earlier work, La Femme ... more
I have to be honest - it was the trailor which drew me to this movie. Loads of medieval battle scenes, mud and iron...you know the kind of thing - there was no way I wasn't going to give it a look. Furthermore, it is directed by Luc Besson - who also directed the gritty 'La Femme Nikita' and stars some big Hollywood names like Duston Hoffman and John Malkovich...so it couldn't be all bad. Or could it?
Personally I hated this movie. It does of course document the story of how the French army came to inexplicably be lead by a 17 year old illiterate French farm girl and how they won victory over the invading British armies under her command. I'm not going to delve into the story too much, because, I'll be perfectly honest, whilst I like all the medieval battles etc. the rest of all this historical posturing can go hang as far as I am concerned. Even more so when a movie is this bad.
Basically Luc Besson has an obvious, undeniable infatuation with Milla Jovovich. She was in his earlier work, La Femme Nikita where she was rather good, extremely annoying in the abysmal Fifth Element, and here, in The Messenger, she goes far beyond annoying. She is the central focus of virtually every scene...no, she IS EVERY SCENE. This is nothing more than a Milla star vehicle and to be honest she does nowhere near have the talent to pull it off. Her eyes pop like a crack-addicted chihuaha as she stutters and shakes in the delivery of her lines. You just want to reach in and shake her...."JUST SAY IT DAMN YOU!". She has absolutely no charisma onscreen whatsoever and to see her in a role like this is just excruciatingly painful.
This woman lead the French army to victory? Yeah, of course she did.
Couple this with the fact that Monsieur Besson obviously did not feel that the movie would be 'epic' enough unless he dragged it out ot over 2 hours and you have a really torturous experience. The scene where Joan receives the visions, in all their tortured intensity, are great...but are three times the length they should have been. Trust me, you have to to go and make a cup of tea whilst Milla rolls about the place screaming and rolling her eyes. Its just so painful.
The rest of the cast might as well have gone home, the camera has eyes for only one person. The likes of John Malkovich are not allowed to develop their characters, Dustin Hoffman is completely wasted and you wonder why they bothered with such big names if they were not going to be allowed to act. To draw in the audiences? How cynical. Try to tell me there is no character development to be had in someone like Charles VII and I'll call you a fool. Luc Besson is obviously that fool, the only character being allowed to develop being Milla's, perhaps in a vain attempt to raise the perception of her own performance but dumbing down on those around her? It doesn't work.
To be able to appreciate this movie at all you would have to be first convinced that the leaders of France and its armies would have been ready to follow the character of Joan of Arc. Milla Jovovich plays a weak, brittle, abrasive and generally odious character, illiterate and generally weak on all fronts. You decide.
Get past this though, maybe you are a big fan of Milla's work, and you have a movie which has some great battle scenes(ignoring the broken wailing coming from the lead) and some beautifully shot scenes. When they are allowed to act at all, the others do so to the best of their abilities in their fleeting moments, and although the script is laughable, it is passable. Surely there are a hundred...thousand even different actresses out there who could have played the part of Joan of Arc to a far better standard than Milla Jovovich, yet Luc Besson carries on his obsession and coaxes another annoying performance out of her. Once the early battle are over the movie really loses its way, decending into trivialities and religious mumblings which I really couldn't listen to for too long. I sat there and endured it until the end, but it really drags along feeling like 7 hours rather than over the 2 hour mark. Apparently it is very accurate in the battle scenes, even using the same words that have been historically recorded as having been uttered, but the significance of the events surrounding this period has been ignored. The coronation of Charles VII was a massive morale boost to the French people and is wafted over by Besson, focussing entirely on Joan at the expense of all else. It really doesn't get to grips with the history and falls down heavily because of it - again Milla, Milla, Milla...
There is NO WAY that I could possibly recommend this movie to you as it stands. It is obviously stretched out to gain an 'epic' label, and after the initial battle scenes just plummets into trivialities which no one is going to care about. This is probably the last Luc Besson movie I will ever watch, as the guy has obviously lost it since he hit the big time. Nothing can really save this movie from being anything more than abysmal and hence its rating...and it would have been lower.
~DVD Features~
Cast biographies and a 'making of' film - a 23 minute documentary which links key parts of the movie to actual historical events. The only problem being that if you know even a little of French history, you already realise there are GAPING holes in this movie, especially in glossing over some of the most important parts...ho hum.
Advantages: Good movie that is well done all the way around Disadvantages: Joan looked pretty nuts.
...this first came out in the theaters, there was a television miniseries about Joan of Arc about the same time with LeeLee Sobricki (I may have spelled this wrong). It was pretty good, especially LeeLee, she had done a fantastic job. I heard that “The Messenger” in the theaters was a disappointment. I wasn’t disappointed at all.
I only saw two differences between the two movies. The first was that Milla Jovavich was playing Joan ... ...taken away from her and the men's clothing was left. She was penalized for wearing those men’s clothes, even though that’s all she had to wear. The movie depicts this towards the end of the movie. Like I mentioned, this movie does get graphic. So it’s not suitable for kids. But this is a good movie. I wouldn’t call it a great movie. I did prefer the television version to this one. But this version was good and held my attention ...
Terrie 08.01.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of The Messenger - The Story of Joan Of Arc (DVD)
Advantages: poor dialogue, good to start but deteriorates badly Disadvantages: poorly paced
Every school kid knows the story of Joan of arc. The real question here, is does the film live up to the immortal tale of the girl who saved france from her enemies and claimed to have bought a message from god, the answer is simply no. Milla Jovovich is superb as Joan and the film strats brightly, the period costumes and scenery are superb and is truly believable of the time period, and all of the other actors involved are quite satisfactory, inlcuding ... ...john malkovich review), and for the first half of the film, the action is superbly violent and true to life, unfortunately the story just rubs out of steam and the film dissappears staright up its own backside. More times should have been spent on the victories the army achieved with joans leadership and less on the question of was she really a messenger from god. Ok she was badly treated, and this barely shows the extent of which she must have suffered ...
mcpoeman 01.07.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of The Messenger - The Story of Joan Of Arc (DVD)
Advantages: excellent story, good action, battle Disadvantages: blood
...of 1429 who stood before the King with a message from God. She claimed that she would be able to defeat the worlds greatest army and save her country. The film is full of action, battles, blood, emotions, and violence. But it shows the cruelty of 15th century and bravery of unusual village girl who leads the French army to the battle, believe that she may change something but eventually she is betrayed by her own king. The DVD lasts approx.151mins ... ...directed by Luc Besson .
The DVD include 24 minute featurette. It has English and German languages and English, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Icelandic, Hindi, Hebrew, Dutch, Bulgarian, German, Turkish, Danish, Swedish, Finish, Greek, Norwegian, Arabic and Croatian subtitles. Extra features contain Fimlographies, Isolated Score, Making of Featurette, Teaser Trailer and Trailer.
It cost me Ł2 and its one of my favourite historical films that I ...
bibisk 25.11.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of The Messenger - The Story of Joan Of Arc (DVD)
Filmographies, Isolated Score, Making Of Featurette, Teaser Trailer, Trailer
Aspect Ratio
2.35 Wide Screen, 16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen, 2.40 HD Widescreen
Sound
Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround Sound
Dubbing Sound
Dolby Digital 5.1 English German
Professional reviews
Review
"...Eyecatching....The technical achievements here are excellent..." (Variety, p.87-8, 01/11/1999)
Additional notes
Album Notes
Original score composed by Eric Serra. Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, England.
Titles on disc 1
6.
At One With You
5.
No Amen
4.
Burying Our Children
15.
Recrossing The River
24.
Answer Me
1.
Talk To Him
26.
Angelus In Medio Ignis
27.
My Heart Calling
3.
Joan And The Wolves
22.
Trial
19.
Armaturam Dei
18.
To Arms
17.
La Hire's Lucky Charm
23.
Anger And Confession
21.
Rex Coronatur
10.
Find Him
11.
Secrets Of A Strange Wind
8.
Yolande
12.
To The King Of England
7.
Chinon
13.
Sent By God
14.
Procession To Orleans
2.
Sword In A Field
9.
Messenger Of God
16.
Tourelles
20.
Miracle Of Orleans
25.
Repentance
DVD Description
Action master Besson takes on French history in this ambitious look at the legendary saint and martyr. Beginning with a young Joan witnessing her sister's rape and murder at the hands of brutal English soldiers, the film picks up years later when Joan (Jovovich) appears at the court of the French Dauphin (Malkovich), who is making little progress against his enemies. Joan's self-confidence and charisma induce the Dauphin to take a gamble by allowing her to lead troops, resulting in an upset victory at Orleans. However, Joan eventually outlives her usefulness to the French throne and is sold out to the English, who burn her for heresy. All the while, Joan struggles with her faith, exasperating the experienced French generals and having impassioned arguments with her imaginary 'Conscience' (Hoffman). Features several exciting medieval battle scenes.
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