Jeanne la pucelle Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Jeanne la pucelle Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 30, 2026

Historians will probably agree there have been large swaths of time when there's been no love lost between England and France, and some may jokingly wonder whether that could be one reason why Jacques Rivette's 1994 two part biography of Joan of Arc is only now getting a Region B release from Radiance's UK division, some seven years after Cohen released the film(s) in the United States and Canada (see below for a review link). While Radiance sent check discs and I'm therefore not privy to any information in an insert booklet, and Radiance's website doesn't explicitly mention this, my hunch is this release is based off the same master that Cohen used, and so while video and audio are at least similar, this Radiance release offers a couple of potential improvements for fans: each part (film) has been given its own disc with this release, offering more "real estate" for compression purposes, the subtitles are optional (the Cohen release was from the era when they kind of annoyingly only featured forced subtitles), and there are at least a couple of on disc supplements added to the pot that were not on tap on the basically bare bones release from Cohen.

For my thoughts on the film, the following links provide plot information and my reaction to the technical presentation:

Joan the Maid Blu-ray review

The above link has further links to each part, as follows:

Joan the Maid Part 1: The Battles Blu-ray review

Joan the Maid Part 2: The Prisons Blu-ray review

Jeanne la pucelle Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Jeanne la Pucelle is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Radiance Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. As mentioned above, Radiance sent check discs for purposes of this review and so I'm not privy to any verbiage contained in an insert booklet, but their website mentions a 4K restoration from the original negative(s), while a prefatory text card before each part states the restoration took place in 2017 and was supervised by Irina Lubtchansky, daughter of the film's cinematographer. I've attempted to duplicate screenshots from the three above linked reviews so that those interested can do side by side comparisons, but the bottom line is I think you'd be hard pressed to cite any major differences between the two presentations, at least in terms of palette and general detail levels. There's probably an argument to be made that splitting the parts onto separate discs allows for more breathing room for the compressionist, but I frankly wouldn't say that grain resolution looks substantially different here when compared to the old Cohen release. The above linked reviews to the two separate parts offer more thoughts on each part's presentation.

Note: For those interested, both of the discs in this set played fine in my Region A player.

Jeanne la pucelle Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Again as with the Cohen disc, this release sports a great sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track in the original French. As with the video side of things, the two above linked reviews of the parts of the film offer some thoughts on each part's audio, but once again both the fantastic early music scoring by Jordi Savall as well as a glut of ambient environmental effects help to offer consistent engagement of the side and rear channels. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Best of all, at least for persnickety types, the English subtitles on this release are optional.

Jeanne la pucelle Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc One

• Beatrice Loayza (HD; 20:22) contextualizes the film(s) within the context of other cinematic portrayals of Joan.


• Trailer (HD; 1:02)

Disc Two

• Pascal Bonitzer (HD; 13:20) is a new interview with the co-screenwriter. Subtitled in English.


• Jacques Rivette and Sandrine Bonnaire (HD; 4:54) are offered on a 1994 French television talk show. Subtitled in English.


• Trailer (HD; 00:56)

Radiance sent check discs for purposes of this review, but their website mentions their usual assortment of packaging extras.

Jeanne la pucelle Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

My review of the older Cohen release offered a laundry list of other cinematic depictions of Joan, but in that regard it's kind of funny if maybe slightly shocking to here Sandrine Bonnaire dismiss some previous interpretations in the television talk show snippet included as a supplement. Bonnaire is a naturalistic Joan, even if she's a bit too mature for the role, and this is a rather rare Rivette film that doesn't wallow in meta theatrical elements. Technical merits are solid and the supplements are enjoyable. Recommended.