The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc Page #10

EXT. STREETS - ORLEANS - DAWN

Sparks fly as the hooves of Jeanne's horse strike the

flint cobblestones, swift and clean...

EXT. ST. LOUP VALLEY - ORLEANS - DAWN

... unlike the hundreds of hooves pounding through mud and

mire in the opposite direction.

EXT. EAST GATE - ORLEANS - DAWN

Jeanne reaches the gates as they are swung open, and the

first of the retreating troops make it back to the city --

among them, La Hire and Gilles de Rais...

JEANNE:

What happened? Who gave the order

to attack?

LA HIRE:

God knows, but it was a bad idea!

JEANNE:

(to Gilles)

Were the men confessed? Where are

the priests?

GILLES:

(out of breath)

We didn't take them... we wanted to

be fast... wanted to make a surprise

attack...

Dunois rides up and Jeanne assails him --

JEANNE:

Dunois... was it you who ordered the

attack? Answer me?!

DUNOIS:

Can we -- uh -- discuss this later?

JEANNE:

Sooner is better than later!

Jeanne charges forward, into the confused ranks of

retreating French soldiers. Dunois thinks she's gone

crazy --

DUNOIS:

Come back... you'll be killed!

But Jeanne's not listening. She's been waiting long

enough for this moment, and now she has it, there's no

going back. She stands in her stirrups and shouts out --

JEANNE:

Follow me and I will give you

victory!

La Hire is the first to change his mind, riding up behind

Jeanne like Attila the Hun as she gallops forward into the

path of the retreating French. Now the Duke of Alencon

joins them, and soon the whole army has turned about -- an

immense tidal wave of energy rolling back across the

valley...

EXT. ST. LOUP FORTIFICATIONS - ORLEANS - DAY

... toward the astonished English. One moment they were

pursuing their hapless enemies, but now an avenging angel

bears down on them, sunlight glinting off her armor. They

start racing back toward their own fortifications: the

bastille St. Loup -- a great fortress amid a network of

trenches and tunnels...

The French army is finally behaving as a single organism

whereas the English cohesion fragments into shards of

individual panic -- every man for himself! They regard

Jeanne as a sorceress, and terror spreads like cancer

among their ranks. They turn and flee back to their own

lines, only to be bombarded by a fusillade of their own

missiles, poorly aimed at the French.

Soon the St. Loup tower is ablaze, the English are forced

to abandon their fortress... and the French finally get to

celebrate their first victory within living memory.

Jeanne has become an object of worship and veneration, and

the soldiers crowd about her, cheering her as their

savior. Presently Dunois rides up with his Captains...

DUNOIS:

It's a great victory, Jeanne... your

victory. But we must follow it

through and pursue the English back

to Talbot's camp... unless of course

you have another good idea?

Jeanne closes her eyes a moment... then smiles at Dunois.

JEANNE:

We return to Orleans... across the

bridge, at the Tourelles.

GILLES:

But the bridge has been pulled down!

JEANNE:

The English are rebuilding it.

DUNOIS:

How do you know?!

FLASH:
Jeanne and her army are silently moving through a

forest. From her POV, she notices hundreds of fresh

trees-stumps...

JEANNE:

You have been with your counsel, and

I have been with mine.

EXT. TOURELLES COMPLEX - ORLEANS - DAY

The English are moving up the stripped trees we saw

earlier from the Tourelles courtyard toward the broken

bridge. Glasdale surveys the operation with satisfaction.

EXT. TOURELLES - POV FROM ROOF - DAY

Redbeard and the other English Guards on the roof of the

Tourelles spot Jeanne's army in the far distance.

Redbeard calls down to Glasdale...

REDBEARD:

Glasdale! Looks like the froggie

whore's coming to pay you a visit.

EXT. MONASTERY - ORLEANS - DAY

Jeanne rides at the head of the army, flanked by Dunois,

La Hire, Alencon, Gilles, Aulon, Xaintrailles. They halt

in front of a ruined monastery to the south of the

Tourelles. Jeanne gives instructions for the placement of

artillery...

JEANNE:

Position the long-bows over there,

crossbows over there -- and set up

Dijon Culverins either side of those

trees...

DUNOIS:

The wind will be against us...

JEANNE:

The wind will be with us!

(to the Captains)

Do as I say.

EXT. TOURELLES - BATTERY - DAY

The English take up their positions along the ramparts of

the battery -- a massive, square fortification, surrounded

by a deep, empty moat.

Jeanne rides forward to the edge of the dry moat, her

banner billowing in the breeze, and addresses the

English...

JEANNE:

Glasdale, can you hear me? You who

call me a whore, I pity your soul

and the souls of your men. Yield

now to the King of Heaven, and go

back to your island...

GLASDALE:

And you, go back to Hell!

Jeanne turns and gallops back to the French soldiers as

Glasdale turns coolly to Redbeard --

GLASDALE:

Don't kill her till I've had my fill

of her!

-- and walks back to the Tourelles.

The French have established a temporary headquarters.

Dunois is drawing a map in the dirt and is preparing a

battle plan with his Captains...

DUNOIS:

Let's plan this attack a little more

carefully than this morning...

GILLES:

Good idea!

JEANNE (O.S.)

(calling)

My fine soldiers...!

Dunois turns to see Jeanne, standing before the army...

JEANNE:

This morning, God gave us our first

victory, but that was nothing

compared to what he is ready to give

us now. I know you are tired and

hungry, but I swear to you in the

name of the King of Heaven that even

if these English were hanging from

the clouds by their fingertips, we

shall tear them down before

nightfall...! Now, my brave

soldiers... let those who love me

follow me!

With a valiant cry, a thousand soldiers tear forward

behind Jeanne. Dunois is speechless. Gilles lays a

sympathetic hand on his shoulder.

GILLES:

You were saying?

Jeanne rides at full tilt down into the dry moat, and for

the next few minutes, the air is thick with the tumult of

battle. As each successive wave swarms across the moat,

so they are met by a fusillade of English flame and steel

from the battery above. But the French respond with equal

fervor:
the Dijon Culverins deployed by Jeanne now rain

an aerial bombardment of boulders down upon the English,

while their arrows darken the sky above...

Jeanne reaches the base of the battery. She leaps down

from her horse and starts to climb one of the ladders

being thrown up against the wall... but is suddenly struck

by an arrow from the rampart above. She reels -- the

ladder sways -- and Aulon catches her in his arms as she

falls back to earth. Redbeard is jokingly furious --

REDBEARD:

Hey, you just killed my woman!

The English laugh and jeer, but the French are in dismay

at the sight of their Jeanne, unconscious, lying in

Aulon's arms, with the arrow wedged deep above her breast.

EXT. MONASTERY BEHIND TOURELLES - DAY

Aulon, La Hire and Xaintrailles carry her to the ruined

monastery while the two page boys follow anxiously behind.

INT. ST. AUGUSTINE MONASTERY - DAY

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote