175-176 Jeanne la Pucelle

[Finch]

15th century France. Tasked by visions of saints to help free her country from the English, a young peasant girl leaves her humble home to meet the heir to the French throne, determined to lead his troops into battle. She ends the siege on the city of Orléans and accompanies the triumphant king to his coronation in Reims. Injured during subsequent battles, she is soon captured by the enemy, who put her faith on trial. The mythical figure of Joan of Arc comes to vivid life in this grounded and moving adaptation by Jacques Rivette (L'amour fou, Va savoir), an epic two-part portrait starring a magnetic Sandrine Bonnaire (À nos amours, Vagabond).

BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES

4K restoration of each film from the original negatives, presented on two discs
5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
Interview with co-writer Pascal Bonitzer (2026)
Archival interview with Jacques Rivette and Sandrine Bonnaire (1994)
Interview with critic and author Beatrice Loayza (2026)
Original French theatrical trailers
Newly improved English subtitle translation
Reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters
Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by film critic Willow Catelyn Maclay, and newly translated archival writing
Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings

[JSC]

I'd be curious to know if there's going to be any corrections to the color timing a la Je t'aime, je t'aime or Illustrious Corpses.

[diamonds]

I believe Je t'aime, je t'aime was an Eclair job and Illustrious Corpses was a Ritrovata job; this was (fortunately) neither, and the new restoration looks pretty gorgeous. The only question is whether it "lack[s] sections of day-for-night tinting found in previous releases." While I don't doubt that to be true, I would still like some kind of confirmation as to what these supposed sequences are. The dimness of the previous DVD release in question makes it rather difficult to judge what is actually supposed to be day-for-night and what is simply the DVD image being excessively dim. If Radiance does make any any changes, a statement from them that discusses how they verified those changes (i.e. what prints were consulted) would be helpful.

Otherwise, the newly improved subtitles are the main draw for me. While the film isn't one of my favorite of Rivette's, it's interesting seeing his elegant, serene mise-en-scène deployed in the more unusual biopic context, and of course Bonnaire is amazing. I think it becomes particularly fascinating when considering—in the context of Rivette's career—what makes it a personal film, in ways I've yet to see adequately grappled with. (I have what I suppose is a somewhat crackpot reading of the film that perhaps I will advance one day—ideally after a rewatch with this disc!)

[domino harvey]

The only Rivette I haven't seen. I'll prob stick with my Cohen Blu-ray for when I do get around to it, though

EDIT: Maybe not if it does indeed have bad subtitles

[swo17]

I'd be curious to know if there's going to be any corrections to the color timing a la Je t'aime, je t'aime or Illustrious Corpses.

I believe Fran said a while ago that the main reason they might redo the Cohen Rivettes would be to fix issues like color timing, subtitles, etc.

[Lowry_Sam]

I started to watch it on the Criterion channel, but only made it through half of part one. It struck me as just okay, I didn't find it as compelling as La Religieuse. Since the Cohen has been released & it's a 4k resto, I'm a little surprised they didn't go UHD for this, though maybe they're not expecting as much interest & therefore too much a risk.

[knives]

Alternatively I found it one of the better Rivette films honestly bringing something new to the story. It might have the most in common with Marvelous among the films.

[Michael Kerpan]

My sense is that Rivette's film has a non-trivial overlap with Bernard Shaw's treatment of the Joan story in his Saint Joan. This is a plus point for me. I know that the Cohen release was a big improvement of the quite poor DVDs that had been available before -- I also seem to think pt 2 looked worse than pt 1 in the Cohen version (which seemed strange to me). Otherwise my memories of this release are a bit dim.

[Noiretirc]

Alternatively I found it one of the better Rivette films honestly bringing something new to the story. It might have the most in common with Marvelous among the films.

What is Marvelous, he sheepishly asks, expecting much ridicule?

[knives]

No, that was my fault for being imprecise. I was in a hurry and just wrote part of the name. I was referring to de Gastyne’s The Marvelous Life of Joan of Arc.

[Noiretirc]

Ah! Thanks.

[Michael Kerpan]

Part 2 (The Prisons) looks (and sounds) pretty impressive in this new release. A huge improvement over the prior version. Haven't looked at Part 1 or finished Part 2. But the coronation scene was magnificent. Interestingly, the Latin prayers were not subtitles. I guess we are expected to remember our high school Latin (I followed most of it).