Jeannette
French master Bruno Dumont (Hadewijch, P’tit Quinquin) recreates the adolescence of the Maid of Orleans as a radical, electro-metal musical.
France, 1425. In the midst of the Hundred Years’ War, the young Jeannette, at the still tender age of 8, looks after her sheep in the small village of Domremy. One day, she tells her friend Hauviette how she cannot bear to see the suffering caused by the English. Madame Gervaise, a nun, tries to reason with the young girl, but Jeannette is ready to take up arms for the salvation of souls and the liberation of the Kingdom of France. Carried by her faith, she will become Joan of Arc.
Exquisitely shot in a palette of royal blues, heather greens, and sand by Guillaume Deffontaines, Jeannette oozes elemental beauty. Dumont casts non-actors in the leading roles and makes use of live sync sound for the sung, a cappella dialogue, creating an intoxicating combination of naturalism, amateurism, and anarchic artifice that is bolstered by an electro-metal score from French multi-instrumentalist Igorrr.