Joan's Journal

(Part I. Joan on Film: In the Beginning)
(Part II. Joan on Film: The Middle Age)


Next, a quartet of films from the '80s-'90s. Or three films and a miniseries, actually. No matter. On to Joan at the end of the twentieth century!


Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989), Jane Wiedlin: ( 'Noah's wife?' )


Jeanne la Pucelle: Les batailles and Jeanne la Pucelle: Les prisons (1994), Sandrine Bonnaire: ( 'Quelque folle... ou quelque sorciere...' )


The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999), Milla Jovovich: ( 'She's nuts!' )


Joan of Arc (1999), Leelee Sobieski: ( 'Come out, that I might send you to hell!' )


And finally, Joan on TV.

Hi there! Still not dead. All last week I kept meaning to write an update post, but I kept putting it off until by now it hardly matters. Still, if you could send a healthy thought or two into the ethers for my dad, that'd be keen. Thankee!

Aaanyway... A while ago, I had a wee idea. "Self," I said to myself, "May 30th is coming up, and as everyone knows, May 30th is the Feast of St. Joan of Arc. You have a nice collection of movies and TV shows about Joan. Why don't you do a post and blather a little about them?" And so I did. Except... I kinda got carried away (shocking, I know), and ended up with many, many pages of blather about the aforementioned movies and TV shows, most which is probably pretty boring. Not that that'll prevent me from posting, of course. Heh. I have all those words from all those posts I haven't been making recently lying around in my brain gathering dust, so I might as well use them for something. But honestly, I really won’t be insulted if you scroll on by. This blather doesn't include every movie about Joan, or even all of the ones that can be considered important, since, among others, I don't yet own a copy of Robert Bresson's Procès de Jeanne d'Arc. It hasn't been commercially available for a while, and bootleg copies only show up on eBay when I'm broke. This blather doesn't even include every Joan show I do have in my collection, since I never had a chance to rewatch my tapes of Witchblade. But it's a pretty healthy selection nonetheless, including portrayals good and not-so-good. Like Hamlet, Joan of Arc is an difficult, strenuous part for any actor. She's a tremendously complex figure, so susceptible to contradictory interpretations, so charged with fascinating possibilities. She contains multitudes. Playing her must be a daunting proposition, but an irresistible one.

And so, on with the blather. I'll begin at the beginning, with the silents, then on to the mid-century portrayals, then the Joans of the '90s, and finally, television. And for each film, I've included a link with at least a small picture of the actress in costume, so you can get a glimpse of the changing face of the role.

Joan the Woman (1916), Geraldine Farrar: ( 'No sword once drawn for France - shall be thrown Down!' )



La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc (1928), Maria Falconetti: ( 'Si j'y suis, que Dieu m'y tienne... si je n'y suis pas, que Dieu m'y mette!' )



La Vie merveilleuse de Jeanne d'Arc (1928), Simone Gènevoix: ( 'Donnez-moi des hommes d'armes et je leverai le siege d'Orleans, puis vous menerai sacrer a Reims.' )


Next up, Bergman and Seberg.

It's a long shot, I know, but... Does anyone have an mp3 of "William Shatner" by The Scofflaws that she or he can zap me? I have it on cassette, but that doesn't help me any, alas. Please and thank you!


On a totally different note- So ABC picked up the new Night Stalker series, eh? It's a strange world where Stuart Townsend ends up playing Darren McGavin and no mistake. I've barely glanced at the new pickups yet, but I did notice that Alan Tudyk's and Sean Maher's shows didn't make the cut. Boo. Tim Minear's new one is on FOX, right? He must like the half-season-with-lots-of-extras DVD set format. That's fine, so do I. CBS announces JoA's fate tomorrow, as far as I know, so yay, more hours to stress about that. I need a more relaxing hobby.


Okay, my headache and I are going back to bed. No NCIS finale until next week, but George Eads is on Craig Ferguson tonight, and I'll never make it that far without a nap. This day and I are not friends.


ETA- Australia has chili-chocolate Tim Tams?! Oh keen. I wonder if I could justify a trip to Australia on cookie-buying grounds... okay, now I'm off to sleep.

Nicked from someone on friendsfriends, I forget who. Someone who watches Brit TV, though, judging from some of the shows.

( Cult television meme )


My tea is gone, and so am I.

... Kathleen Turner's on. And she looks really good. I admit, I've always thought she was sexy. Sexy enough that she was able to cast a veil of attractiveness over Michael Douglas, which is saying something. But it's been a few years since I've really seen her in anything, so it was great to have her turn up to flirt and tease Jon with that voice of hers. Maturity has fulfilled the promise that was always there, as far back as Romancing the Stone- she's become a real dame**, and that makes me happy. Now if only the movies would do right by her, not to mention Susan Sarandon, Anjelica Huston, Diane Keaton and the other talented actresses of their generation, by offering (regularly, not just a handful every few years) a wider, more interesting range of roles for women between the age of ingenue and crone. I know, I know, it's crazy talk like that that leads to communism. Ah well. Older actresses turn to directing, to the theater, to a variety of other creative outlets, and I'm glad about that for their sakes, but the screen is a little less silver without them. I've missed you, Kathleen. You're a right dame, and you can purr on my television anytime.

And now Mark Harmon's on Craig Ferguson. There are attractive middle-aged people all over my tv tonight. I like this trend. *g* And he's hugging Craig and giggling! Awww. Not even dorky jarhead hair can make Mark Harmon unattractive. I'm insanely hyped for tomorrow's NCIS (well, today's by the time I post this). Not even Death is dumb enough to take Gibbs on. Woo hoo! Or so I hope (my poor Tony!).



**the Rosalind Russell kind of dame, not the Judi Dench kind. Though Judi Dench is pretty much the Rosalind Russell kind herself, come to think of it.



On a totally different note: Hey, didn't I see this on The Simpsons? Don't get me wrong, there are many, many things about it that I find tremendously cool, but sometimes I can't help but think, is it possible that Japan is the strangest country on Earth?

Not even a slightly productive day, but a good one nonetheless. I lolled around all morning watching Miracles, then went out to poke around in the garden and enjoy the weather. It's been such a chilly, wet spring so far that everything's a few weeks behind, but the rhubarb is finally coming up, and of course there's mint all over everything. Long, long ago, we planted some spearmint, and then less long ago some apple mint, in what we thought were manageable amounts, and every year since then we've gotten mint swarming all over everything like kudzu. Mint's one of those plants you need a whip and a chair to control. Good thing it's so useful. So hopefully the weather will hold long enough to get in there and till. Darn garden won't get planted until July, at this rate.

That was my non-productive morning. My non-productive afternoon involved more lolling, this time to read Sappho. I'm looking for text for a Xena icon, and somehow Sappho seemed appropriate. Heh. It's been ages since I've read her, and this translation, Anne Carson's If Not, Winter, is new to me, so it was an afternoon well-lolled. I don't read a word of Greek (it's a good day when I can recognize half the alphabet), so there's none of that occasional "that's not how I'd translate it" twitching that I sometimes hit with, say, Latin or OE (not to say I'd be right, of course, but try telling my brain that). And Carson's translation is really beautiful. I don't know how much is the translation and how much is the original, but some of the fragments sound to me like medieval Chinese poetry. Bits like, "Eros shook my/ mind like a mountain wind falling on oak trees." Lovely. Anyway, I found a few phrases that might work, but the problem then becomes, as pretty as they are in English, they look prettier in Greek. sigh. And to be honest, I'm not even sure if the icon needs text at all. It has possibilities, but it's so pretty as-is. Wanna see? The base is from nixxie_:



Without going back to check ('cause I'm lazy and it's late), it looks like a shot from "Fallen Angel," an episode about which I've always been conflicted. I don't much like the Eli/monotheism arc, though I like Eli himself. I found the whole angels/ demons/ Heaven/ Hell/ Michael/ Lucifer/ Apostle Eve/ pure-and-redeemed Callisto mess irritating more often than I found it satisfying (especially P-and-R Callisto, but that's a rant for another night). Still, corny flying effects aside, "Fallen Angel" looks gorgeous, and it has some very good elements. The concepts bug me, yeah, but a lot of stuff, like the Xena/Gabrielle scenes (particularly their shell-shocked reactions at the end), Joxer wanting to take them home to bury with Xena's family, Eli in torment, and especially the costumes, worked really well for me. I love the costumes. All those beautiful Greek Orthodox angels? Oooh. Right out of a mosaic.

Anyway, yeah, the icon text issue is a puzzler. Darn icons. How you torment me, and I can't even create you! *shakes fist at sky*

And it doesn't really fit this base, but as far as icon text goes, I may have squeaked aloud when I saw that Carson had translated Fragment 190 as "manyskilled" (yay, a kenning! Heh). How perfect! "I have many skills," is probably my favorite recurring line on the show. A more appropriate base and that fragment, translated or not, would be a very keen icon indeed. Er, that's not a hint, honest. Just sharing my enthusiasm. *g*


Speaking of enthusiasm, the first, superior season of Joan of Arcadia comes out on DVD this Tuesday. Yay! But alas, my "yay!" must be tempered- on a micro-level because I have to wait until June for my copy (birthday present. Awesome birthday present, though, so yay!), and on a macro-level because, apparently, there have been some changes made for the release. Why am I not surprised? There are indeed music changes. Argh. This was my biggest fear for the set, honestly, because so often the music is integral to the episodes and to their meanings and subtexts. I'm dreading hearing what they've done. I'm really glad I haven't gotten rid of my taped copies, not-great quality though they might be. Also, apparently the theme and credits are only attached to the first episode of each disc, which is strange and annoying (and cheaper, I suppose, but still!). Widescreen, commentaries and deleted scenes are very snazzy, but the music thing... It's going to be a stressful few weeks until I hear the damage done, I think. Anyway, here's a positive review of the set with details on the extras.

On a totally different note... I forget what blog I nicked this from (alas), but I loved this cartoon take on the whole ridiculous evolution vs. creationism rigmarole: "Science vs. Norse Mythology." I mean really, why should Christian fundies have all the fun? I particularly like this bit of the artist's statement: "I would like to issue an official apology to any believers in the Norse faith. I certainly have no wish to get on the wrong side of any Vikings, who historically have not expressed their grievances through letters-to-the-editor. As my friend John Patton pointed out to me, it's a little foolhardy of me to insult the religion of a seafaring warrior people when I live right on the water." Hee! Oh, and that reminds me- at long last, the D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths is coming back into print this summer. Finally! Huzzah! It's been unavailable for ages, and for a while there, used copies were running into the $100-200 range. I've only read it once, long ago, before our local library's copy Vanished Mysteriously (dum dum dum), but I vaguely remember loving the illustrations so much that the "and then there was Ragnarok and everybody died and then somehow the Norse people reappeared only now they were Christians and they were really much happier that way" ending didn't bother me (much). But Little Sister and I were raised on a much-beloved copy of the Book of Greek Myths, and in many, many cases my mental images of the various gods and heroes are still the D'Aulaires' version. Man, we loved that book. Wasn't as good as Dad's bedtime stories about the Blue Boat People, a mishmash of the adventures of Odysseus, Theseus, Jason and company, and whatever other hero-types felt like coming along, but it was close.

Let's see, did I have any other links lying in wait around here? Um... you've seen the Legend of Zorro trailer, right? I'm really looking forward to this (still, yet, even with all the delays). And naturally it opens the week before Serenity. I need to move back someplace where the nearest theater isn't an hour away. But not tonight. Heh.

I'm sick and I'm mopey, so I've been letting everything slide (like I ever need an excuse), but I think I'd lose my geek card if I didn't flail around Kermit-style about the Serenity trailer. So, um, flail flail flail! Heh. Okay, yeah, it really is very shiny. Possibly too shiny and dust-free, but I've seen a lot of movie trailers over the years, so it's not like I don't know how deceptive they can be (and usually are). It seems silly to me to get riled up over a trailer before you've seen the actual film. Then again, it seems silly to me to cut for spoilers from a trailer, so I'm obviously not a hardliner. I don't have the willpower. Anyway, my beloved show is back (sorta), I'm thrilled, they're all so damned wonderful, and I'm still scared absolutely blind that this movie's going to break my heart.

Simon sure is pretty, though. As is everyone else. And River is just... I've missed the show so badly, and while a movie's not the same, at least it's something. I can't wait until my head's not wrapped in cotton and I can treat this moment like a moment.

I also finally finished Finding Serenity, which is nice. I kept putting it down and wandering off. So distractible these days. It was a mixed bag which, overall, tended toward the positive. The wacky fun essays were generally more satisfying for me than the serious ones, and the ones on gender all managed to tick me off for one reason or another. There were quite a few times throughout that I wished I were reading LJ posts instead of a book, which was a strange feeling. But then I don't read that much in the way of fannish analysis in book form, and I'd forgotten that, oh yeah, books don't let you comment back. Unless you want to talk to them, of course, but then your cats look at you funny. Or so I've heard.

One of the things I was surprised at was that both times it was mentioned (both times I saw, anyway- there was one essay I only skimmed), the authors took the interaction between Inara and the Councilor in "War Stories" at face value. Huh. Seriously? ( Small spoiler for that scene, logically )

Right, so back to moping, not sleeping, feeling sorry for myself and obsessing about Bellisario's vague, hinty NCIS finale semi-spoilers. I was sort of relying on that show to balance CSI, but now... we'll see, I guess. Off to bed I go, to wake up healthy and lively and rich. Can't hurt to dream, right?

Squeee, Serenity! Flail flail flail!

I'm spamming mostly to see if I can, since LJ's being a dork, or possibly it's TSCITW, or my lousy connection, or the weather, or... hell if I know. Hopefully it'll be more cooperative tomorrow, since I have comments and email and whatall, but heck, by now you guys know what a slacker I am about that. So, tomorrow. And I was going to spaz about tonight's JoA, but I don't have the energy anymore. Perhaps it's the "my show was disappointing for much of the season but I still love it and I don't know its fate and that was the ending we got" blues (diddy wah doo). I need to rewatch it, plus the pilot and this season's premiere, I think. I will say this- I hate cliffhanger finales. On any show. But especially on shows which have not yet been renewed. That's dirty pool, Ms. Hall.

Anyway. I quite liked this quiz result. Don't know how accurate it is, but she's always been one of my favorites, and whether or not she fits me, she certainly fits my type. Nicked from devinharris, ( which goddess am I? )

They're here, they're here, they're here! Miracles DVDs for me, woo! Miracles DVDs for me, yay! Isabella's staring at me like I've started mutating ("Why are you dancing, freakish human, instead of feeding me?"), but I'm sure that's just because the poor kitty doesn't watch much TV. She does watch hockey with me, though. When we have hockey. Which is never again. Wow, way to wreck a good mood, cat.

Miracles DVDs! In my hands! With Alva, Paul and Evie staring out at me from their creepy disembodied heads! The text in the background does help class that up a bit, but still, not the most attractive packaging I've ever seen. Wait, why am I complaining? I have Miracles DVDs! I believe the phrase would be, "squeeeeeee!!!" They're so pretty! Shiny and new and full of extras for the gobbling! All these scenes I haven't seen in too long, all the gorgeously tortured Alva/Paul-ness, "Paul Is Dead," the fantabulous guest stars, the credits and theme music that I love so much, "Paul Is Dead," the X-Files-meets-Angel-meets-Brimstone-and-then-some vibe, "Paul Is Dead"... Joy is mine!

Aren't you glad to have the technology at hand to hear all about what the mail brings to people you've never even met? Heh. Anyway, watch Miracles! Buy it, rent it or beat up old ladies and steal their copies (but don't tell them I told you to do that). It's a smart, stylish, creepy, slashy, twisty, angsty, hopeful, pretty, fabulous show with a tragically tiny fandom. There are only thirteen episodes (sob!) so it's not a huge investment of time, unless it eats your brain, which, I should warn you, happens. A lot. But you'll be happier with a Miracles-eaten brain, anyway, so why resist? You know you want to. All the cool kids are doing it. Just try it.

I bet everyone's really, really tired of seeing "Pope!" all over their flist again, right? Heh, I sympathize. And yet I post! I can't help myself. It's like some demented Borscht Belt comedy record. "When You're Online the Whole World Is Catholic." I'd be lying if I said I were pleased that Ratzinger got the nod, but I'd be lying even more if I said I were surprised. I had my money split between him and the Italians. Still, if I were the Holy Spirit, I would have wafted in some other direction. So, missed opportunity there.

Anyway! I have nothing really to say about Ratzinger himself, because my general feelings have been nicely covered by all of the many posts saying, "Ack!" (I summarize, of course). But I can't resist commenting on one aspect of these Vatican shenanigans: his chosen papal name, Benedict. Interesting! Now, as a monastic scholar, particularly one who has primarily focused on the 8th-10th centuries, naturally the Benedicts I know best are not popes, but rather the great monastic architects, Benedict of Nursia and Benedict of Aniane. I love Benedict of Nursia. A whole lot. No, more than that. He probably wouldn't like me as much, all things considered, but if I took that sort of thing personally from historical personages, I'd have gone into a different field (plus, I'd be nuts). Benedict of Aniane, a more Type A personality, can be tougher to like, but we've spent a heck of a lot of hours together over the years, and we've been in a good place since about, oh, 1998. So while most of my Benedictine brainpower has been thus directed, I have bumped up several of the Popes Benedict in my researches over the years (I seem to run into Benedicts and Johns most often, esp. John XIII and Benedict VII), so eventually I started jotting down factoids on index cards. You know, for kicks. Heh. They strike me as rather a mixed bag. As is often the case, the bad ones are more fun- there were several antipopes named Benedict, one of the Ottonian-era Benedicts was murdered (strangled! oooh...), and one (Benedict IX) was the sort of pope who goes around gambling, drinking and fornicating, and selling his office to the highest bidder so he'll have more time for gambling, drinking and fornicating. Perhaps not the best candidate for the job. Then again his daddy got it for him when he was just a pup, sort of the eleventh-century version of a Camaro for graduation, so what can you do?

A Benedict (XIII? XIV? I can't read my own writing) made life rather tougher for missionaries by inveighing against describing non-Christian practices and beliefs with Christian terminology. That must have gone over well with the Jesuits. And it was a Benedict-to-be, Jacques Fournier, Bishop of Pamiers and dedicated hunter of witches and heretics, who wiped out the last of the Cathars. Well, he was a Cistercian. They're high-strung. I kid, I like the Cistercians (very high-strung). He was also an exceptionally boring theologian who held long debates on mysticism and doctrine with Meister Eckhart, among others, not that I still hold a grudge or anything.

Okay, I'm looking for a Pope Benedict who's even a smidge as likeable as the Abbots Benedict, and... oh! Forgot Benedict VII! Tenth century, was a strong supporter of monasticism and had a relatively peaceful tenure. Which makes him sound really dull compared to the heretic-hunter and the murder victim and the papacy-selling slut, but that's showbiz. Anyway, thumbs up for Benedict VII. He was a good egg, mostly.

As for the most recent Pope Benedict, the one that Ratzinger is presumably trying to recall, well, hm. He was a pacifist and neutral power during WWI, which was more or less interpreted by the nations as, "I'm secretly on the other guy's side and I'm not going to admit it, but you definitely shouldn't trust me." Even so, he tried negotiating peace several times, until the Vatican was told to stay out of it. He's generally considered a moderate, though I rather think he benefits through juxtaposition with hardliner jerk Pius X. He ended the institutional persecution of reformers and modernists that Pius X had favored, but he didn't undo anything that had already been done, and he was no modernist himself. Still. He wasn't John XXIII or anything, but if Ratzinger's planning to model his own papacy on Benedict XV, he's going to have to loosen up a bit.

And how did Benedict XV end up on my mental radar in the first place, despite being a modern pope and therefore far less interesting to me? Well, he presided over the canonization of Joan of Arc. That'd do it.


And so to bed, in the hopes that tomorrow I will wake up to a world which has brought me my Miracles DVDs and freed my poor mailman from the Curse of the Puppy-Dog Eyes. I have to admit, I'm amused that we got Miracles and a new pope on the same day. Slightly different views of the Church, methinks.