She became the patron saint of France, but Jeanne d’Ay de Domrémy was born the daughter of a peasant farmer in northeast France. As a teenager, Joan began to have visions of angels, including St. Michael, and she swore a vow of virginity. Based on a story about a virgin saving France from England during the Hundred Years’ War, Joan demanded a meeting with the Dauphin Charles, and then she joined the French army at the siege of Orléans in 1429. Her success meant that the French took her advice in successive battles, and she insisted on the coronation of Charles VII after they fought back the English.
But her fortunes turned in later battles as she tried to lead an army against Burgundy. Eventually Joan was captured and ransomed by the English, who then turned her over to the Catholic Church where she was put on trial for heresy. While the clergymen judging Joan were French, they were pro-Burgundian and bribed by the English, so she was found guilty and burned at the stake. She was finally canonized as a Roman Catholic saint in 1920.
Her story makes for great historical movies and TV shows because you’ve got a feisty leading female character, a bunch of back-biting men, and a whole lot of action, plus potential for mystical religious whoo-woo. Since we’re here for the costumes, let’s consider what did Joan of Arc look like? The only contemporary image of her to be found is a doodle dated May 10, 1429, and drawn by Clément de Fauquembergue, but he never actually saw her. He shows Joan carrying a sword and not wearing obvious armor.
Other close-to-contemporary images are these from Les Vigiles de Charles VII, written and illustrated around 1484, which show many episodes from Joan of Arc’s life. In the first image, it looks like she’s wearing armor with a skirt, while in the second image, you can see an armored leg as well.
Part of the articles of heresy against Joan were that she wore men’s clothes and cropped her hair like a man. So it makes sense that depictions of her at the time and now would emphasize this. The frock flicks that try to cover her whole life tend to have a “before” look where Joan is a peasant girl with long hair and skirts, then she’s a warrior with short hair wearing armor, and finally she’s executed. But some productions focus in on just the trial, where she’s mostly in men’s clothes, except for a brief abjuration when she recants and agrees to wear women’s clothes and her head is shaved. Not all versions show this back and forth, of course. Let’s see how these flicks do (and wonder what the planned Baz Luhrmann take on Jehanne d’Arc will look like!).
Maria Jacobini in Giovanna d’Arco aka Joan of Arc (1913)
Geraldine Farrar in Joan the Woman (1916)
Maria Falconetti in La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc aka The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
Simone Genevois in La Merveilleuse vie de Jeanne d’Arc aka Saint Joan the Maid (1929)
Angela Salloker in Das Mädchen Johanna (1935)
Ingrid Bergman in Joan of Arc (1948)
Ingrid Bergman in Giovanna d’Arco al Rogo aka Joan of Arc at the Stake (1954)
Michèle Morgan in Destinées aka Daughters of Destiny (1954)
Jean Seberg in Saint Joan (1957)
Hedy Lamarr in The Story of Mankind (1957)
Julie Harris in The Lark (1957)
Siobhán McKenna in Saint Joan (1958)
Beverley Dunn in The Lark (1958)
Florence Delay in Procès de Jeanne d’Arc aka The Trial of Joan of Arc (1962)
Janet Suzman in The Wars of the Roses, “The Inheritance” (1965)
Geneviève Bujold in Saint Joan (1967)
Inna Churikova in Начало aka The Beginning (1970)
Catherine Morley in Jeanne d’Arc (1973)
Josine van Dalsum in Heilige Jeanne aka Sacred Joan (1978)
Jane Wiedlin in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)
Sandrine Bonnaire in Jeanne la Pucelle – Les Batailles (1994)
Sandrine Bonnaire in Jeanne la Pucelle – Les Prisons (1994)
Milla Jovovich in The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999)
Leelee Sobieski in Joan of Arc (1999)
Lisa Simpson (voiced by Yeardley Smith) in The Simpsons, “Tales From the Public Domain” (2002)
Clémence Poésy in Jeanne Captive aka The Silence of Joan (2011)
Laura Frances-Morgan in The Hollow Crown, “Henry VI, Part 1” (2016)
Lise Leplat Prudhomme as younger Jeanne, Jeanne Voisin as older Jeanne in Jeannette: l’Enfance de Jeanne d’Arc aka Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc (2017)
Lise Leplat Prudhomme in Jeanne (2019)
Who’s your favorite Joan of Arc onscreen?
![Portrait of a lady said to be Jeanne de Valois, comtesse de la Motte [I would be shocked if this was accurate] by Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, c. 1780 [I'd say post-1783], via Wikimedia Commons](https://i0.wp.com/frockflicks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Jeanne_lamotte_valois.jpg?fit=300%2C175&ssl=1)
My favorite is probably Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. I don’t remember much about The Messenger; I had it on in the background while I was working on a costume. :)
I haven’t seen any of these, although a friend wants me to watch the 1928 version with him sometime (he saw it and was impressed). Oddly enough, I was just researching St. Joan of Arc for another project, so it was fun to see this comparison!
I do take a bit of issue with the phrase “turned her over to the Catholic Church,” however, because that isn’t exactly what happened (according to my research). Yes, the people who put her on trial were Catholics, but they did all this behind the back of the official Church (which is why St. Joan was later exonerated). Joan WANTED to be turned over to more official Church authorities, guarded by nuns instead of men, etc. but her wishes were refused.
I really enjoyed this particular article about it, so I’ll drop the link in case others want to read it! https://going-medieval.com/2023/11/17/no-the-church-did-not-kill-joan-of-arc-you-credulous-dullards/
Thank you @Allusive for the trip down the rabbit hole! That’s a cool historical blog site you shared.
Not A Film, but I love Heather Dale’s “Joan”
gives me shivers every time
.
…I sift out the righteous like grain from the straw
I am judgment and heaven is nigh:
They won’t call me Mother or Sister or Wife
They will know me or not by the strength of my life
I will burn with a light of my own
They’ll know me as Joan…
“Tell me you were filmed in the 1960s without saying you were filmed in the 1960s.” Lol! The bad pageboy wig!!
Also, I came across this vintage photo of Therese Lisieux (St. Therese of the Child Jesus: my patron saint) dressed as St. Joan of Arc for a play and looking splendid! Teh photo above of of Joan the Woman (1916) reminded me of it. Maybe that was the inspiration?
https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryPorn/comments/1ftu2kd/th%C3%A9r%C3%A8se_of_lisieux_dressed_up_as_joan_of_arc_the/
Also, I’ve seen The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) several times and it is my favorite! A good film to watch on Halloween (with all the lights off) because the visuals on the old monks are so CREEPY!!
Still the best in my opinion.
A tremendous film, and intense as hell. Even though it’s silent (based on the transcripts of Jeanne’s trial), I alway remember “The Passion” in sound.
I have fond memories of watching The Messenger in my junior year religion class (the joys of going to a Catholic girls school lol). I’ve been meaning to re-watch it for awhile, so I’m glad to be reminded of it.
Wow, that’s a lot of Joan of Arc movies!
I assume at least some of the ones titled Saint Joan are based on the 1923 George Bernard Shaw play of the same name.
I’ll give the casting directors this, at least some of their choices triggered the “Where are this young lady’s parents? She’s in DANGER!” panic that represents the most reasonable response to a painfully-young Saint and Martyr.
Others, of course, nailed the eerie energy of one in touch with an Otherworldly Plane … and then there’s Mme Jean Seberg, who I took one look at and thought “Who the heck issued Joan of Arc bedroom eyes?!?”
I apologise, but every other description I attempted sounded like a cowardly effort to ignore the obvious.
On a more serious note, it’s intriguing to note how many nations have given their take on Saint Joan – heck, even ‘les Anglo-Saxons’ have taken a shot or two at the Virgin of Orleans.
Metaphorically, even!
That 1960s wig is hilarious 😂 it looks like it could fall off if she shook her head.
Despite going to CCD classes as a kid, I first heard about Joan of Arc through the Wishbone episode “Bone of Arc”. The episode was based on a Mark Twain book and Wishbone played Joan’s best friend. I was still little enough that I didn’t really understand the what happened on TV wasn’t real. At the end of the episode they showed how they used special effects when Joan was shot but they didn’t go over the burning at the stake part so my child self thought that they just burned the actress at the end. Yes, I wasn’t the brightest kid.