Pope Joan

A period film set in the ninth century. Johanna is a priest's daughter. Women are forbidden to read and her father will not teach her letters; she learns on her own. Her brother brings her books. A churchman notices her and a route to learning opens. Then the village is raided. Most of her family is killed in the attack and Johanna survives. She takes her brother's name. She cuts her hair, puts on men's clothes, and enters a monastery. She learns medicine there. She treats the sick and word of her knowledge spreads. She is called to Rome. From there the film is a story of climbing. Treating a pope, manoeuvring at court, a death and an election. Gerold runs through it. A man she knew in childhood, now a soldier, and the only one who knows who she is. What the narrative is interested in is not belief but access: the whole concern of the film is a woman having to be someone else in order to reach knowledge. The story itself is contested. The account of a female pope is known as a legend and most historians do not accept it; the film takes it as a premise. The period is depicted broadly. Church order, the streets of Rome, plague and court politics are built in detail. The production has a story. Another director was to make the film first; he fell out with the production company and left weeks before shooting. The source is Donna Woolfolk Cross's novel. Johanna Wokalek, David Wenham, John Goodman and Iain Glen are in the cast. Sönke Wortmann directed. Who it is for: anyone who likes period productions and historical drama at scale. Who it is not for: anyone expecting historical accuracy; the narrative builds the legend as fact and most of the characters stay on the surface.