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Movies & TV Toronto International Film Festival 2018

Jeannette, The Childhood of Joan of Arc

JEANNETTE, THE CHILDHOOD OF JOAN OF ARC WAV D: Bruno Dumont. France. 106 min. Sep 12, 4:30 pm, AGO Sep 15, 6 pm, TIFF Bell Lightbox 3 Sep 17, 9:30 pm, TIFF Bell Lightbox 4. Rating: NNN


Dumont’s bizarre new film is a musical (arranged by French heavy metal star Igorrr) about the religious coming of age of the iconic French patriot.

Based on writings by Charles Péguy (whose fervent Catholicism informed his socialist world view in the decades before WWI), the focus is on Joan’s spiritual questioning and political awareness as a winsome eight-year-old (Lise Leplat Prudhomme), then as a mature 13-year-old (Jeanne Voisin).

It’s often surreal, sometimes blasphemous, but overwhelmingly devotional. Dumont manages to have his satirical cake and reverently eat it. Not to be missed: a nun played by twins (Aline and Elise Charles) singing evocatively and dancing awkwardly about her love for the Holy Spirit.

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