RESEARCH JOURNAL - Joan of Arc puppet film
 by Steven Ritz-Barr.

2012 Novembre 8 Topanga, CA, USA

This year my research led me to 2 books about Joan of interest. The Queen and the Maid by Nancy Gladstone (2011), and Gilles et Jeanne, by Michel Tournier (France 1985). Both influenced my script. In fact the script, completed in March, is still evolving. At present, I have replaced the human Producer-Director, with just telling Joan's tale with the puppets. The plot and rhythm of the script work well but there are more elements I want to add and illuminate within the story. Some of these new ideas arose with my correspondence with Ms. Gladstone concerning a more assertive Yolande. And due to the inspiration of Tournier, the character of Gilles de Raie was altered to include his unbounded admiration for Joan. He later committed horrible deeds, but before he fell into his obsession with abusing children, he had probably witnessed the burning of Joan. From this horror his own internal horror grew and the result was tragic for many children. He was burned by the authorities in public just like his idol. I began shooting some screen tests for Joan. They revealed some new information about how she needs to move. This means I have to be able to depend less on the strings as the only method of movement for her. I have been experimenting with rods, for her fight scenes.

My colleague, Kindred Gottleib, has been sculpting the statues of St. Michel, St. Catherine, and St. Margaurite. No timetables have been set for the completion of the film. But we will begin shooting the scenes where Joan hears her voices in the coming weeks. Also the voices have yet to be recorded. I am expecting to do this in February 2013.

 

2011 Dec. 1, 2011 Topanga, CA, USA

Way back in 2010 after the film Quixote had been released I received a phone call from Michael York, the actor who voiced Don Quixote. He had just seen the film the night before, he and his wife "had simply loved it." We chatted for a few minutes before he ask me what film was next-- he would love to work on another one again. I told him I was interested in portraying a female hero to balance out the other two films.  Cleopatra or Sherherazade, or Annie Oakley I wasn't sure. "How about JOAN of ARC by Shaw," he said. I said I had thought of her but was put off by her religiosity.  I will think about it, I said.

Well since then, about 2 yrs. ago,   She hasn't been out of my mind for more than a day.

I began by reading Shaw's St. Joan. Not only the script is great, but his extensive research about Joan and her time converted me.   He also omits the battle scenes. I really liked the story but  it was too wordy-- I didn't see it done with my style of puppetry. I have a carnet full of notes on the book. i liked his attention to the magical reality on a daily basis within the culture where she found herself. Inspired.

Next I read Mark Twain's Recollections of Joan of Arc.
Twain  is Louis de Conte, a villager like Joan about her same age. He was her scribe. The book is so full of passion, any objectiveness is thrown out the window. It ends up a bit too grandiose- melodramatic, yet because of the voice of the character telling the story, it worked. I was now hooked on the story and the heroin- although mostly in an emotional way.

I went to France in the summer of 2010.

 

Oct. 22,2010

I’ve added the conflict of the unspoken love between the puppeteer and the voice of Joan. He can’t play all the roles so he hires someone to perform the voice and he falls in love with her, although he has been his whole life.

It is a Petrushca story where the Puppeteer falls for the spectator, but can’t say it. My Artist is a Puppeteer and is not young anymore. And he falls for a young Joan. A young woman who grows to be in love with the Artist also.

A love story. But now it is planted into the story of the artist who is telling the tale of Joan of Arc and discovers that the myth is not the reality. He doesn’t know if he should tell the reality or the myth. The myth is the reality. She says. No, it is how want the reality to be. Our collective wish. A way to see and understand our reality. But why would the French want to retell the story of Joan when her real story is also a kind of myth.

And the story of the virginity of the Joan character. The refusal of the sex wish. And her devotion to god. It is the dream of the virgins. The patron saint of Virgins.

BOOK: Medieval virginities Edited by Anke Bernau, Lec. Cardiff University <John arnold(Lec. In medieval history at Birkbeck college, London)>; ruth Evans (den. Lecturer English studies Ul of Stirling, Scotland and Sarah salih

Jocelyn wogan-Brownbe (Fordham U, New york)

Protestant view (pg. 215) predicated upon an even more elevated view of virginity: virginity is so special that it can only be attained b a tiy mumber of the exceptionally sinless, aided by God, and therefore remains the highest goal to which ot aspire. (Helen Hackett, virgin mother).

 

4 Oct. on plane

Looking over my stuff I see what I want to explore. A Secert Life of JA.

With a Merlin, with mixed myths of pagen and Christian, with switched babies, with an ethereal dream-like quality that diminishes not JA, but enhances her own ability to lead an Army and motivate men.

Overboard- the cirstances that lead to her own success, as always are the things that lead to her demise. Betrayed and set up by Tremoille she is tried as a heretic – a bad god--and not as a war criminal.

Two realities have to coexist. She must. Big lines—the turmoil in France- 2 kings and 2 popes; family blood wars between Armagnacs and the Burgundians.

I must be strong enough to enjoy the conflict of introducing another story of JA.

Checked out the Secret Story of Joan of Arc. I am going to start there,.

 

24 Sept 2010 toulouse gare en route a lyon

After 3 full weeks of relaxing with Beate in Marcillac sur Cele, visiting friends Matt, and Annick, Gwendal, Monica. Walks to the little town, canoeing down the Cele, and reading and swimming. Eating lots of Tomatoes and drinking lots of Cahors—which is no problem digesting. No beer.  I read some good books one was about JA with a poetic twist. This twist I want and need to adopt. The guy was obsessed with her breast as a warrior, her thick loins as a country wench and she was also just generally impassioned by her in his imagination. These are the imaginations I am going to violate. I want to access her dreams or the dreams of those around her- not so much her fellow soldiers who only dreamed of victory—not with Death. But I do need to have on hand the Death character from Faust. She no doubt had this one behind her She didn’t see him. Or perhaps she did while in the dungeon of her trial. There must be a precursor to her madness- her one single minded ness her inability to accept the life giving to her that is around her. She is empowered by a myth herself—she believes she is the Pucelle in the stories told by the villagers. But she was also told was a noblewoman from the house of Orleans. There must be a conversation about her by others in the café of under the tree of the Bois Chenu the old Oak. The tree of life. She grabs on to this personages. She believes she is the One. She must remain a virgin in order to fulfill the prophesy. She decides to use the religion as a crutch. So I need to study these religious fanatics. But she was in the right place at the right time. She was special She felt special, she was really special. Born with the blood of the noblesse.

BG- The wars, the paris massacres, the German/Burgundian schism, the English delemma and the 100 yrs war. It has  got to be understood to understand this person arriving at the time and place that she arrived. By her sheer will she anointed herself. She was the Puppet of France. A female warrior. This must be accepted. She had to learn to fight—her apprentissage in Arms and artillery and the strategy of War. Her fearlessness of an anointed one, dissolves into bitterness of the self deception. Orleans welcomed her with open arms because she gave them back their courage. She gave them back their voice- their confidence after the English had their baromater of Arrogance notched so high it was unsustainable. So a little lady comes along to chop them down to size and allow some of the land to go back to the French speaking people.

 

1)the Merlin’’s myth.

2) the time and space. How did their little part of France remain loyal to the Armagnacs. Why did the Burgundians allie with the English speaking Kings, What is this gthinkg called Patriot. She led the others followed. War was fun to these soldiers—they had to join. 9every little extra side story muct enter into the whole enchilada and it must all cook slowly and rise without warning.

3) HER TENACITY—HER WISDOM AND HER COURAGE HAS TO BE THE main attraction of this story.

 

16 August Monday at Domremy

Feeling a bit confuse. Been reading his books and talking to Robert Staub, the Innkeeper at Domremy. His real version of Jeanne Darc is a tale of the conspiracy theory in all its splendor.

First, the prophecy. A legend from Merlin. The prophecy that one prostitute will have France taken away and a Virgin will get her back. So the prostitute is …                      And they gods needed a virgin, so they made one from Joan of Arc. (Both stories start here)

The first story was the one understood in the middle ages. The second was the one fabricated in 1860s for the Prussian War. And it stuck. So this one could be told in a few minutes…. With flashbacks and emotion and meaning intended to make you believe god will save you. Merlin at the outset, the master storyteller, putting ingrediants into a the making of a story that will last forever. It must have some fact, some dreams and elements that blur those lines of true or false. Fiction mixes in truth, and non-fiction mixes in elements of pure ‘pretend’.

Old pigeoner in No. Est France, raining misty. We see a very old man with a cane walk from a huge tree into this house. He opens the huge decorated door, and closes it. We see the fire in the window get brighter. Inside, we see merlin- sort of like god. But now he puts aside his beard and takes off his robe and we now see it is a woman- (Linda hunt comes to mind).

She mixes and match and talk to a real cat about the elements to give meaning to the lives of the mere mortels. A fiction.. must be mixed with lots of facts and a true story must contain many facts that can’t be proved… made up stuff. Joan la pucelle or the pucelle d’orleans was Joan of arc is one of the most great of the immortel non fictions. This is a story that the truth is much more interesting and exciting than the fiction that was created 300 years after her death. Both versions start with the same set up….

First, the prophecy. A legend from Merlin. The prophecy that one prostitute will have France taken away and a Virgin will get her back. So the prostitute is …                      And they gods needed a virgin, so they made one from Joan of Arc. (Both stories start here)

 END CREDITS: a line of images of authors who have plunged into Joan, Twain, Churchill, shaw, bretcht,

 

Roi charles 6 fou  Isabeau de baviere—c’est une putain hoelte Barbette—son amant frère du Roi—Louis d’orleans.  Pluisiers enfants… Jeanne a  ete nai pas vu son --- cacher—donc on declare un garconmornee. On cache un petite fille . ils ont mis a l’abrisie. A paris a Jeanne D’arc. Une souer de J. Darc. . il yapyer. Aun esc. Personne vu. Nowl. Berger qui chant

She was the bastard daughter of                    And she was brought to the landowner master archer Jacques D’arc to be raised because….? In the evening of…..  her mother was never heard screaming when she gave birth, nor could she have had the girl born because of the ages of the other children. Stranger things have happened in the middle ages.

This means her 1/ brother was Charles 7. This is what would explain why she put him on the throne. Why she was so determined to kick out the English and get her brother on the throne.

She was a poor peasant girl, who rose up through a strong belief in her God, with voices guiding her from above. At 13 she heard the angel Michel tell her to do good.

 

Aug. 15 Lyon

A single black hair had been pressed into the wax of the seal by a finger. The custom whereby the writer of a letter plucked a hair from his head and pressed it into his seal was frequent at the time; it was an additional guarantee of the authenticity of the document; so it may be taken as reasonably certain that the hair came from Jeanne's head, witch gives additional confirmation to the tradition that she was ´black and swart'.

Virginity

Her virginity was noted by mature women, at Poitiers/Tours in March 1429 and at Rouen, on 13 January 1431. It is known that Yolande was one of the ladies of the court who, at Tours, examined Jeanne for virginity. (This was to intended to withdraw any suspicion of sorcery)

 

August 4, 2010 outside Dourdan, France

The same thoughts are running through my mind now as before (7/10). Do I want people to believe in Joan at the end of the story? Or believe that we can be Joan?

In a logline: An innocent, 19 year old French woman delivered France from enemy occupation through her unyielding determination to the cause. Yet because of her unique mental unusualness, (she heard voices of Saints and Angels who told her how to lead), she was burned at the stake by the French, the English, and the Catholic Church. Fire. This woman is Fire. Her flame consumed the French army, who many happily followed to their deaths. She gave men purpose through a realization of a higher calling than their own mediocrity. And for this she was allowed to burn. She is the quintessential victim of her own successes. She became so powerful the King didn’t’ want her on her own.

The King, Charles VII 

Tramouille, the King’s counsel (Dick Cheney)

Le Hire,

the ArchBishop,

Three Parts: Her as Youth, Joan as Warrior, Joan as victim/martyr

Youth- mother father, brother, friends, her dreams of a life free of bullies.

Perhaps the scene of the Fairy tree.

Warrior- feudal lord Vaucoleur, Gilles de Rais, Le Hire, Dunois of Orleans

King, Tramouille, soldiers, fighting, climbing, shooting bows and arrows, catepults, moats, pain and Death.

Martyr-  the trail of Joan by French priests; the public one and the private one in her dungeon room. Fear of torture. Screams. Death.  The burning.

Sex Religion Food-  3 primal needs that are we are reduced to through some sort of mental trauma. Any one can sustain us to live and not to die.  As a response to her youthful fear, she was willing to go all the way in her pursuit of religious ecstasy. Her sexual energy was sublimated for the sole purpose of freeing the French from the tyranny of the occupation. She had to believe for the entire army and country.

I'm at the SM library today researching Joan of Arc. I'm knee-deep in a great book called : Hearing voices and the borders of Sanity. This stuff is right up my alley. Did you know at 19 she was burned at the stake by the Catholic hierarchy partly because she would not wear woman's clothing?   She was the leader of the entire French army at 17 years old and heard voices of Saints and Angels that instructed her concerning her brilliant military strategy.

 

 July 10, 2010

Scenes depicting some transference of the news a la 15 century. Like the newsreel from Citizen Kane.

Story in a Story:  where the PUPPETEER from Quixote is a minstrel show throughout the piece. He sings the interludes as a sort of vision or narrative or an opposing POV of the core primary story that is told.

Scenes where others tell her advice—her generals (LeHire) and all she sees and hears is her voices inside her head. That is how she can bypass their advice so easily.

The 3 parts are the simple village girl, then the warrior, then the fallen hero burned and made into a martyr with mythic power.

What is interesting is her tragetory path. And her burning like a Phoenix and rising as the Firebird.

Or do a classic horror film. Accentuate the particular dirty and sordid aspects of middle ages culture, bllod and guts. Bodily fluids.

Or get into the Grand Guignol of the situation.

Over the top melodrama that goes right to the heart of the tragic. This is the stuff of opera. Joan of Opera.

Twain sums up Joan's position with great vigor in the preface, thus, "Joan of Arc, a mere child in years found a great nation lying in chains, helpless and hopeless under alien domination, their King cowed, resigned to its fate, and preparing to fly the country; and she laid her hand upon this nation, this corpse, and it rose and followed her. She led it from victory to victory, she turned the tide of the Hundred Years' War, she fatally crippled the English power, and died with the earned title of Deliverer of France, which she bears to this day. And for all reward, the French King, whom she had crowned, stood supine and indifferent, while French priests took the noble child, the most innocent, the most lovely, the most adorable the ages have produced, and burned her alive at the stake."

Then I read some Marina Werner's Joan of Arc. The best. I understood so much, or began to understand how the Virgin was worshiped in those times. How a strong woman had few choices outside of wedlock. Also the magic reality that pervaded the time made this story possible. The prophetesses were an occupation. Joan was one. So exciting this book.

Somehow through this journey I came across the God gene., Why God won't go Away" by 3 neuroscientists, that distinguished a specific part of our brains where a certain profound peace can be found. This is the space from which Joan emerged.

I researched at length the theory that Joan was the bastard daughter of Isabeau de Baviere and Duke d'Orleans. This would explain her calm in the face of grave danger.

also The Believing brain by Michael Shermer, and the skeptics of Voltaire, who mocked her, like a bad adolencent kid. Marcel Gaye's book about how the story changed to fit the teller was of great interest. It's the conspiracy theory around Joan.

At the end of these and other readings, I concluded the story of Joan of Arc, from the time she left her village to the time someone was burned at the stake in public in Rouen who was either her or not, the legend of Joan of Arc ended there. The next story was the PR and how the story was changed to fit the ideas of the teller.

But that if I could tell a story I enjoyed, that was based on the legend of Joan of Arc, not to lead the audience into thinking any of it is re-enactement, but a new slant on the legend  due to the nature of the string puppets being operated from above the puppet much like a Christian believer's image of a God above them who can pull the strings of fate to operate us.

I wanted so much to integrate that concept without pretension. I would have to be aware of the cliche without going into it too much. Philip Genty, in a workshop back in Charleville-Mezieres, in 1985, made us aware of the puppet cliche of a human breaking away from the strings of the controller. It has been a gimmick for umpteen years in the puppet world. But in the story of JOAN I think it could work.

I wrote my first script. This was after defining the Joan story as a road-warrior story. She meets friends along to way, evolves, and flowers, only to fall so clearly to the other side with her capture, imprisonment, and her trial and execution.

then the real and the irreal after. Until she became a Saint in 1920. She was made the saint of soldiers and the Saint of France.

 

 19 August 2010 from Lyon 

I set out to Domremy La Pucelle from Lyon at 6am by train. It was pouring rain but warm. When I arrived in Lorraine, 4 hours later it was still raining, but it was now cold. A mist permeated everything. At the train station I put on all the clothes I had—3 T-shirts, sweater, shirt, and thin coat. My ride came, who was the Innkeeper.  He drove me to the B and B, 10 km into the village of Jeanne D’Arc. I was very excited but I was so cold (it was maybe 45 – 50 degrees) my excitement was frozen. Robert took me around the village, to the home of Jeanne, the chapel, the field where she heard her voices, the big tree where she danced with the fairy people, and to the official museum. He hinted that there was another story of Jeanne that I may want to hear about. When I ask what it was, he said she was adopted by the D’Arc family. And of course, she wasn’t burned.  I hadn’t heard of an alternative theory around Joan of Arc before, and the idea intrigued me, but it wasn’t the Joan of Arc I had come to meet. It disappointed me a bit, until I heard the entire story.

When we got back to the Inn- the Clos de Domremy, he showed me his extensive library (100s of books all on Joan of Arc)… all with the traditional story with paintings, embellishments and what not. But he also led me into his private study where he had the “real” story documented. So he lent me 6 or 7 of the books.     Robert Staub, my host (who wore a t-shirt and wasn’t cold), is a recently retired history aficionado on the Middle Ages who had been a moving stair installer most of her life. He lent me a huge coat, and I settled into the 200 year old Inn, then walked to the Resto. The Plat du jour was lentils and ham hocks. A perfect meal for a cold rainy-misty day. It hit the spot, warmed me up enough to go to the room and fall asleep for a few hours—must have been that carafe of Red I drank.

Luckily the sun came out the last day , my 4^th day, and I could walk around to see the Basilique, the museum, where I saw several intelligent films and presentations, I revisited everything. But for the most part, I spent reading these books about another story of Joan that I hadn’t heard before. It goes like this…

An ancient proverb from Merlin spoke of a Whore who would bring down France, but another one, a Virgin, a pucelle, would elevate France. This folklore was know by everyone in the Barrois area (now Lorraine) for hundreds of years, where the goddesses were more respected than the gods. This is the land of house of Barr (no kidding).

In early 1400s, Isabeau de Baviere, the queen of France, was known for her many bedmates. Her husband was Charles 6, the Crazy King—he was really nuts. She had a private hotel and one of her hot lovers was the King’s brother, Louis d’Orleans (who was soon assassinated). Well, one day she gave birth to a bastard daughter, who is documented as having been born dead (which didn’t count as being born so the Queen wouldn’t loose her head for her unfaithfulness to the Crazy King). One of the nurses in the employ of the Queen was from the village of Domremy—of the Arc family—her name was Jehanne. The baby girl with the large hands, was not born dead, but taken to her village and raised by the village chief- Jacques D’Arc. The girl was called Jehanne la Pucelle (Joan the virgin). According to all the records available, this girl never had the name of Arc, in her lifetime; everyone knew she was the bastard daughter of someone high up the noble ranks (it was common practice).

This also explains why her insignificant tiny village was attacked so many times in her youth. The Enemies knew someone of importance was there.

The Arc’s soon moved into the local castle where Jehanne was taught proper French language and culture. The castle was raised in 1520. She excelled beyond the belief of anyone—highly gifted. When she turned about 13—the year she heard the voices from the Archangel Michel-- there was the Treaty of Troyes, signed by Queen Isabeau and Charles 6, that divided France into 3 parts and left no land for the heir apparent, Charles the dauphin (the future Charles 7), who was from the noble family d’Orleans (Jehanne’s half bro). He was slowly relegated to a low ranking ruler without much credibility. Well at this point Jehanne’s training became that of a warrior; artillery, fighting and horsemanship. She did go to mass a lot, and was learned in the village life as well. She began to understand that she was to be la Pucelle d’Orleans—the one who would save France… from the whore who was her mother, the queen of France from Bavaria, who was responsible for dividing it.

At around her 16,17, or 18^th birthday, she was sent to a tournament in Nancy, where she showed off her skills and won in every category of fighting and war strategy. Upon this display, she was called by Robert de Baudricourt, a local nobleman from Vaucoleur, to go to Chinon with a small regiment and speak to Charles the dauphin, and liberate Orleans from the occupied forces of the English. (Joan was “told” by St. Michel—her Voice-- to liberate Orleans and have the King crowned.) She wore men’s clothing all the time and loved the company of soldiers. In fact, it is said she also participated with the men in enjoying the sexual favors of the women groupies. This wasn’t considered abnormal since she was indeed a soldier and could kick anyone’s ass who objected. Jehanne always slept with the prettiest girl.

This mission for which she was groomed had finally come. She convinced the Court that she was for real by showing her skills, and submitting to the tests of the Catholic bishops in Poitier, who were impressed—she was a virgin, still intact, and knew her Catholic dogma better or at least as good as they did. Charles then gave her the title of leader of the French forces, and she was sent off to capture Orleans. Which she did in a few days. The once demoralized French troupes were a sad bunch, after the defeat by the English and Henry 5 at Agincourt a few years before (remember Henry 5 by Shakespeare). Those French woke up when they realized the Pucelle de France, la Pucelle d’Orleans had come, on a mission from God to help them kick some English butt. They did, and in doing so the English became afraid God had turned against them by sending this forceful virgin warrior. She won 8 battles. She soon took the dauphin to Rheims, in Champagne, where he was crowned King of all France in the cathedral where all the Kings had been crowned (all but one)—it was the sacred place to do this.

End of Part One.

The story tilts dark from here. Jehanne, wanted to keep fighting the English and take Paris, then go into England to free the other Charles (the poet) from prison where he had been kept since the Agincourt battle. Well, Charles the 7, newly minted with authority, and feared Jehanne’s power (he was afraid she’d become more powerful than he). So he dissolved the French army and made peace with the Burgundians, who had sided with the English. Jehanne got a few soldiers together and kept fighting to take Paris. She was taken prisoner in Compiegne by a plot from the King’s new allies. They sold her to the English, who sold her to the church, where she was to be tried by the Inquisition for hearing and seeing visions that were not in accordance with the Dominican order of Catholics who were the northern French order of Catholicism (and English). The Orleans nobles and those from Domremy were Franciscans, who had a more direct connection with God. It wasn’t uncommon for them to pray directly to God and not through a priest like the Dominicans. And Joan certainly wasn’t the only one around then to hear voices; many people did… and many were burned as heretics for it.

She was kept in several prisons for 5 months, then tried for 5 months in a public trial in Rouen, where she often outsmarted the Inquisition Judges with her sophisticated answers and her mastery of French language. She was ‘counseled’ each evening by some voices who told her how to answer—these were the Franciscan monks who were part of the trial, who spoke to her threw a window.

She was supposed to burn. The English and some French who presided over the Ecclesiastes court had it pre-ordained because she was their bitter enemy who had embarrassed them many times in battle. They finally got her on the Voices, to accuse her of heresy. She was led to the flames and recanted her Voices, and was put back in prison with the order and understanding to never wear men’s clothes again. This would be a sign that she would conform to God’s will. Well, the next day, she had put on the men’s clothing, and was re-condemned to burn as a heretic. They led a woman out, with a hood over her head; she was given communion (which wouldn’t be done for an accused heretic), was chained to the log, then quickly burned so all could see. An unusual display of 500 soldiers guarded the people from getting near the flame until nothing was left but ashes.

End of story?

No -- another poor crazy girl was burned (the Inquisition had a number of them in Rouen’s dungeon), and Johanne was led out from the tunnel underneath the dungeon tower by her chief Judge Cauchon.  She was imprisoned for 5 years somewhere by the English, then let out after the treaties were signed that ended the 100 Years war. She reappeared near her village—in the Barrois, later married, returned to Orleans with a hero’s welcome, and was totally accepted by the nobility—except by Charles 7, the King, who mistrusted her. She still had a huge following, and he was always afraid she would overthrow him. She even is said to have given birth to one girl. The father of the child probably was Rene d’Anjou, who had 4 titles and was known as the big Renaissance Man in Metz. He had grown up in Nancy and had known Jehanne in her childhood; he was one who had trained her to fight. (He was also the image of Michael the Archangel that Joan said she was counseled by).

Then Johanne was assassinated one night. Her bones were put in a royal tomb to be discovered later.

Right after her death, they had the 2^nd trial, called the Reconciliation, where she was formally pronounced NOT a heretic. This allowed Charles 7 to be even more legitimate. This trial is known to have been a pure sham because all the witnesses said the exact same thing in response to the questions by the judge. Most of the Judges from the 1^st trial had been killed. The main one, Bishop Bernard de Cauchon, had his head sliced off by his barber, ala Sweeney Todd.

So that’s the untold story of Joan of Arc, who was never an Arc, but always signed her name Jehanne la Pucelle

 

FEB 16, 2011

God / Joan relationship must be paralled by Puppeteer/Actress.

How a girl found the power she found in a world where she was powerless.

Main goals are to make it attractive to Catholic audiences as well as to Feminists.

Keep my Passion in it.  And a compelling love story can work. Joan and her God.