Good concept, poorly executed.

Best movie ever!

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Didn't know what to expect from a movie called "Pope Joan"! I was pleasantly surprised how good and believable the story was in the first half. I am not going to try and say what the rights and wrongs are of women reaching high office in the church are. For me this was triumph over adversity with understated acting by the lead character. Not sure about the romance side of the film, it didn't seem to add much to the plot there was no real build up to the relationship. The first half of the film was more interesting than the second again the plot seemed to get lost and the characters were not as strong. In saying that I still found myself intrigued by the film. If your wondering if its a film worth watching I think its more than worthwhile. All in all I still enjoyed it even though the plot and characters could have been bit stronger.

The story does not appear to have good characterization. People were either 100 Percent good or 100 Percent bad. Real people with extreme rare exception have both good and bad traits. The simple characterizations made the movie too kid like. Also, the events were not really believable. The probability that the girl who the heroine helped when living in squalor, just so happened to be the woman to accidentally find the heroine before she almost died and who later happened to become the bishop of Paris who wrote the book to tell the story is just extremely low. Also the love story that the man who helped the heroine when she was a little girl in Germany later happened to come to Rome at the right time to help her when she was in her greatest danger and to be appointed as the chief of the Swiss Guard is as equally unbelievable.The movie may have been true to the book as its only redeeming feature. For it to be a compelling and interesting historic movie, it would have had to be a lot more nuanced.

"Pope Joan" is NOT an historical movie, it is a Fantasy movie like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter. We live in a very sad times when garbage like this is taken as "historical" when in fact there has never been a "Pope Joan".The legend of "Pope Joan" was a bad attempt of political satire during the Middle Age made to attack the Catholic Church. The myth of "Pope Joan" was totally destroyed by historian David Blondel: the story that she was Pope "from 853 to 855" is so lame considering that from 847 to 855 there was already a Pope: Pope Leone IV. So she couldn't have been Pope during that period. Pope Leone IV died in 855, and after a couple of weeks he was succeeded by Pope Benedetto III.So if you go to watch this movie, keep in mind that you're watching NOT an historical movie, but a fantasy movie. They could've added to the cast Gandalf and Frodo for all that matters, since the whole story of Pope Joan is just a bad and lame satire used in the Middle Age to attack the Catholic Church.

This movie is about the indomitable spirit of many of our species regardless of race or sex. It's not about liberal or conservative, it's about right or wrong. Not about girl or boy, but about the abilities of each of us to advance the human cause on this earth. It's not about Buddist, Jew or Christian but about aleivating all the suffering we can. Consider that for one month of the cost of the war in the middle east, every human could have access to clean drinking water. Who knows where the next Einstein or TuTu will come from, surely the potential exists and needs a chance to show itself without the intolerance of prejudice for one of a different color, sex or the distance from your home they come. We have a duty to expand our knowledge and expose all to the light of reason and in that we have no fear. This movie is a gift to parents and adults that want to find the ways to help all. Ignorance is not bliss, the scene about the mustard seed is worth the price of this great movie. Allegory is when your teacher thanks you. Thank you mother.Wokalek and Flack are superb and a joy. John Goodman is like your pastor or priest and as amiable as I imagine JohnPaul II. Petherbridge as Aesculapius is exactly my image of Hesse's Magister Ludi and Wenham, a developing Chomsky, could of evolved into a Smedly Butler! For those in power this could be a great mini-series for all involved, IMHO. Villains don't get a mention, sry Iain and AT. m.