Cannes: Maïwenn & Johnny Depp in "Jeanne Du Barry"
Thursday, May 18, 2023 at 10:00PM Elisa Giudici reporting from Cannes!
It is fascinating how carelessly Maïwenn gives her detractors such easy targets and ways to tear apart her work. She is the director, screenwriter, and lead actress of Cannes opener Jeanne Du Barry. The biopic takes place in Versailles in the years when both the old king Louis XV and the young and naive future queen Marie Antoinette walked through the halls and the gardens of the magnificent French court. The focus here though is elsewhere. The film centers on the elderly king's favorite, the low-born, sensual, and witty Jeanne. Multi-hyphenate Maïwenn shares Jeanne's giggly confidence, playing the protagonist with Johnny Depp as the aging Louis XV.
If you're thinking of Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, you’re not alone. It’s the same realm of extreme luxury, absurd etiquette, and incredible loneliness, but viewed from a different side of the royal playground...
Maïwenn tries to give her character the same benefit of the doubt Marie Antoinette received from Coppola. Could Jeanne just be a very intelligent, curious woman who finds her soul mate in the king? What if Jeanne was a genuine, caring person, and not a female version of Machiavelli, willing to bring scandal to the French monarchy? So full of love that anaging man trapped in a golden cage falls in love with her smiling bravado? It could be a great start for a movie, but unfortunately, it only serves as a prompt for fanfiction.
As a writer, Maïwenn is guilty of one of the worst mistakes a screenwriter can make: she removes all the grey areas, and all the character flaws to make sure the audience loves her. She's clearly captivated by the historical Jeanne. However, the fictional protagonist is so pure and perfect that she's dull and silly with her non-stop giggling at the little scandals and joys of her love life. With so much romanticisim, the movie never leaves the world of ideals and dreaminess. Maybe Louis XV really loves Jeanne du Barry for more than her body and her charm? Despite the film's dreaminess the power dynamics make it feel unrealistic at best especially in the way the King deals with Jeanne's presence at court.
All eyes were on Johnny Depp as Cannes kicked off. At first, his melancholic, sober rendering of the king is not center stage. But in the last dull act he suddenly becomes a secondary lead. Maïwenn’s casting choice certainly upped the film's visibility. Although the French king is not particularly royal, his American accent is hilarious. However, Depp manages to make it work with a sad, melancholic tenderness in every soft word and movement. For those eager to celebrate his controversial comeback, this role is good enough. Still, any capable French actor in the cast could probably have done a similar or better job.
Despite all the quibbles, Jeanne Du Barry is far from the worst French opening Cannes has seen. While the film lacks complexity, it is so easygoing that it will have some appeal to general audiences. It also benefits from a lavish scenography and a series of intricate costumes.
More to come from Cannes 2023
Reader Comments (2)
I'm sorry, but the costumes and hairstyling look atrocious, judging from the trailer and the few stills released. I'm having FAREWELL, MY QUEEN flashbacks, and not in a good way.
Still, I hope this movie isn't as bad as it seems. You raise some interesting points here, and I do yearn for a more positive take on the historical figure who's so often perceived through the prism of Marie Antoinette. Oh, but my past experiences with Maïween as a director give me such doubts.
I couldn't drum up any interest in a Johnny Depp film if I tried my hardest.