Saint Joan (1957) - film review

Twenty-five years after having been burnt at the stake for heresy, Joan of Arc returns to King Charles VII of France as a ghost and taunts him for having betrayed her.  They recall the time when Joan, driven by divine messages, persuaded Charles, then Dauphin, to allow her to lead an army to attack the English at Orleans.  Did Charles show gratitude when Joan defeated the English, a victory that enabled him to be crowned king at Reims?  No, he only wanted her to return to her village and resume the life of an anonymous  peasant girl.  When she failed in her attempt to take Paris from the English, who came to Joan’s aid when she was arrested and tried by the Catholic Church for heresy?  No one...

The story of Joan of Arc has been told many times in cinema but this is probably the quirkiest.  Adapted from George Bernard Shaw’s celebrated stage play by Graham Greene, Saint Joan compresses the well-known story into a slightly confusing story which appears to put the blame for Joan’s martyrdom squarely on the Catholic Church.  Disappointingly, the battle sequences don’t get much of a look in and the end result is a somewhat stagy affair that is reminiscent of a 1950s television drama, lacking passion and focus, and at times veering towards the downright silly.  

Courageously, director Otto Preminger eschewed choosing an established actress for the lead role and instead cast the then unknown Jean Seberg.  Seberg has been criticised for her portrayal of Joan, but her performance is admirable, particularly when you consider she was just seventeen at the time and had had next to no prior acting experience.   It would be fairer to criticise Richard Widmark’s painfully over-the-top interpretation of the Dauphin, a style of acting that would be better suited for a children’s pantomime than a serious historical drama.   Likewise, Preminger is hardly at his best, his direction showing a distinct lack of inspiration.  It’s an amusing take on a familiar story, but hardly a masterpiece.

© filmsdefrance.com 2009

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