I guess they're going to keep trying to tell the story of Joan of Arc until they get it right. Joan, of course, was the French adolescent of the 15th century who claimed that visions and voices told her to unite the French in bloody battle against the British, thereby putting Charles VII on the throne of France. She was eventually burned at the stake as a heretic, then elevated to sainthood by the Roman Catholic Church. She remains a revered figure, especially to the French. The combinations of mysticism and patriotism, saintliness and soldiering have inspired filmmakers for nearly a century.
Contrary themes are at work here.
The jittery, nearly unstrung performance by Jovovich doesn't help us get a handle on this bizarre mystic. She flits about like a nervous bird rather than offer the confirmed calm of true believer. Faye Dunaway offers a bit of imperious star power as Charles' mother and the source of her son's peculiar set of neuroses. Send questions and comments to The Webmaster .