Jeanne d'Arc (1900 film)
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Joan burning at the stake at the climax of the film
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| Directed by | Georges Méliès |
| Produced by | Georges Méliès |
| Written by | Georges Méliès |
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| Cinematography | Leclerc |
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10 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | Silent |
Joan of Arc (French: Jeanne d'Arc) is a 1900 French silent film directed by Georges Méliès, based on the life of Joan of Arc.
In the village of Domrémy, the young Joan is visited by Saint Michael, Saint Catherine, and Saint Margaret, who exhort her to fight for her country. Her father Jacques d'Arc, mother Isabelle Romée, and uncle beg her to stay at home, but she leaves them and travels to Vaucouleurs, where she meets with the governor, Captain Robert de Baudricourt. The dissipated Baudricourt initially scorns Joan's ideals, but her zeal eventually wins him over, and he gives her authority to lead French soldiers. Joan and her army lead a triumphal procession into Orléans, followed by a large crowd. Then, in Reims Cathedral, Charles VII is crowned King of France.
At the Siege of Compiègne, Joan is taken prisoner while her army attempts to storm the castle. In prison, Joan has another dream in which she sees her visions again. Taken to the interrogation, Joan refuses to sign a retraction, and is condemned as a heretic. In the Rouen marketplace, Joan is burned at the stake. The wood carrier at the execution, bringing in fuel for the burning, dies on the spot from the fumes. In a final apotheosis scene, Joan rises to heaven, where she is greeted by God and the saints.
The film was made in the spring of 1900. It was the first of Méliès's films to surpass 200 meters in length, and the second (after his Cinderella the previous year) to use changes of scene, with twelve sets employed and that number of scenes, or tableaux, advertised. (Cinderella was advertised as having twenty tableaux, but they were filmed on only six sets; this division of long scenes into smaller segments for advertising purposes would become Méliès's standard practice. Joan of Arc, by contrast, was advertised with twelve scenes, one per set.) The artist Charles Claudel, who also repainted the interior of the Théâtre Robert-Houdin in 1901 following Méliès's designs, was the set painter for the film. The cameraman was Leclerc, who also worked for Méliès as the pianist at the Théâtre Robert-Houdin.
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