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.
Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc is a 2017 French musical film directed by Bruno Dumont. It was screened in the Directors’ Fortnight section at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. It was followed two years later by the non-musical sequel Joan of Arc, which premiered at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, written and directed by Dumont and with Lise Leplat Prudhomme reprising her role. The script is an adaptation of the play The Mystery of the Charity of Joan of Arc, written in 1910 by the Catholic author Charles Péguy.
