Opening this year’s Cannes Film Festival is Maïwenn’s new feature, a striking choice for the opening of the 76th edition of the annual cinematic gathering in the South of France, and one that will not only divide audiences but also provoke debate in a typical Croisette polarising manner.
The film’s co-writer and director is also the star of the show, the famous courtesan from France’s sweeping history books. Jeanne is a commoner, a working-class woman with eyes on the social ladder in 18th-century Paris. She arrives there, eyes very much on the prize, attracts the rich aristocrats and other noblemen, and eventually gets to meet King Louis XV (Johnny Depp) in Versailles. The monarch is instantly taken with the striking young woman and asks her to stay, unaware of her social status, family descent, and ‘occupation’. However, the king slowly falls for Jeanne and, after discovering her status as a courtesan, arranges for her to marry a man of good lineage so that she can stay in Versailles and be with him on a regular basis. Comte Guillaume du Barry (Melvil Poupaud) is the person chosen to wed Jeanne using false documents and a sightly altered birth certificate, and the King and Jeanne begin a love affair spanning many years.
Jeanne Du Barry is certainly ambitious. As you might expect from a film with a $20 million budget, it looks amazing with sweeping visuals (captured on 35mm by cinematographer Laurent Dailland), with sounds to match – Stephen Warbeck’s (Shakespeare In Love) booming, grand score equally magnificent. The costumes are glorious, naturally, and the acting from its supporting troupe is excellent. Pierre Richard is particularly excellent as Le Duc de Richelieu, and Benjamin Lavernhe offers a brilliant performance as La Borde.
As for Depp, well he delivers a good performance as King Louis and is solid throughout delivering dialogue in the French tongue. Despite being an interesting casting choice as an American playing a famous French King, he shows his great range and uses mannerisms and slight looks throughout, as well as impeccable French dialect.
The film is ultimately a doomed love story and is largely well-staged and told by Maïwenn. She has crafted a story that is engrossing, if a little unbalanced in terms of tone at certain points. At 2 hours, it does feel long, with a slow-burning nature, especially during the first act, but as the story progresses one can’t help but get swept up in the pomp and ceremony that the story’s setting offers.
It will divide audiences, certainly, but as a film, it grew on me as I was more distanced from the screening and definitely deserves an audience. It will play best in its home territory, for sure (where it is now on release theatrically), and should probably be seen on the big screen to totally absorb and appreciate those big panoramas of period Versailles. A middling film, absolutely, but a decent opener to this year’s festival of film on the French coast.
Jeanne Du Barry was reviewed at the 76th Cannes Film Festival. It is awaiting a UK release.
Jeanne Du Barry
Summary
Depp is solid and shows his great range in Maïwenn’s decent-enough French classic retelling. It looks and sounds amazing and despite it feeling over-long, if you manage to stick with it, most audiences should be rewarded come the closing credits.
