Blu-ray Film Review

The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999) • Blu-ray [StudioCanal]

A young girl receives a vision that drives her to rid France of its oppressors.

Luc Besson, perhaps the most ‘Hollywood’ of French filmmakers, stamps The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc with all his signatures: there’s obviously a strong woman at the centre, her struggle against oppression, lots of weapons, and an emphasis on aesthetics and sensation above language and subtlety that characterised the cinéma du look movement of which Besson was a prominent member.

StudioCanal’s re-release on Blu-ray certainly serves that aspect of the movie well: if it’s luscious visuals you’re after, this is the next best thing to being in the cinema (although it’s the kind of film that demands a big-screen experience). The question is whether Besson’s style suits the story he’s telling; it’s not impossible to make an action-oriented Joan of Arc biopic, “assaying the fine line between spirituality and kicking ass” as IndieWire described it, but it’s so at odds with the conventional image of the Maid of Orleans that it can feel absurd…