Review

It's rare that one can say that a made-for-TV movie outshines its big-screen rival, but that is exactly the case here as this small screen effort completely surpasses the over-blown, phantasmagoric The Messenger. Newcomer Sobieski is absolutely mesmerizing as the “Maid from Lorraine” Jean D’Arc, who, following France’s embarrassing loss to Henry V at Agincourt in 1415, almost single-handedly liberated Normandy from the English. Looking very much like a 17-year-old Helen Hunt, she exudes believability from the moment of her first vision (unlike her Messenger exaggerated counterpart Milla Jovovich) and it is the sincerity of her performance that carries the production. Harris is compelling as the French dauphin Charles and O’Toole also stands out as the inquisitor Bishop Cauchon. The battles in The Messenger may be more intense, but this Joan, by contrast, spares us the martial gore for a far more interesting peek into the political machinations swirling around its hapless young heroine. One of the best network miniseries to come down the pike in a few years.