Introduction
Not without controversy, actor-director Maïwenn’s Jeanne du Barry, starring Maïwenn alongside Johnny Depp in his first film since his very public trial, opened as the first red carpet premiere of the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. The film follows the life of Jeanne Bécu, who was born as the illegitimate daughter of an impoverished seamstress in 1743 and went on to rise through the Court of Louis XV to become his last official mistress. The film is not in competition, but was the first Cannes premiere many of us were able to see this year. Unfortunately, I was not able to see the film on opening night, but I was able to follow up my morning croissant and cafe au lait with a 9 a.m. screening of the film in the legendary Lumiére Theater the following day. Now, after having sufficiently cleared my head from the exhilaration of arriving in Cannes (not to mention the jet lag), I would love to share with you all my thoughts on the film.
Review
My biggest issues with Jeanne du Barry all seem to stem from Maïwenn’s total centrality to this film, and her apparent inability to separate herself as an artist from her character. The challenge of starring in a film that you are also directing is one that is undoubtedly immensely daunting, but it is something that Maïwenn has practiced for a while now, as she is prominently casted in most of her directorial endeavors. In Jeanne du Barry, it feels as if Maïwenn was unable to differentiate between her role as a director and her role as an actor, and thus, the entire film feels like it would’ve been directed by Jeanne herself. The film is intent on praising Jeanne, portraying her as a nearly unflawed character that is superior to most everyone else around her. There are certain junctures in the narrative where chinks in Jeanne’s armor could’ve been exposed in order to make her a more compelling character and to create a more complex narrative, but we leave each of these junctures with only another addition to the growing list of Jeanne’s perfections. As a result, each character surrounding Jeanne feels increasingly one dimensional, as their primary purpose becomes to either prop her up, exemplified most obviously by the character of Zamor, an African-American boy who is relegated to serve as an object to emphasize Jeanne’s nobility and nothing more. Jeanne is also surrounded by women that hate her and men that adore her, which feels counterintuitive to some of the feminist themes that are vaguely present here. This all combines to create a film that, intentionally or not, reads like a sort of Maïwenn vanity project, in which she plays a character that is mythically benevolent, and then as a director, creates a world around her own character that is almost singularly focused with making her even more divinely flawless.
With all of that being said, the film is at its best when it is allowed to revel in and then trivialize the pomposity of the French Royal Court. I was impressed by the cinematography, and Maïwenn does a great job capturing the grandiose of Versailles with excellent set design and costuming. Some performances are better than others, with Johnny Depp’s being the most outstanding in my opinion. Depp captures the gentle and soft charisma of King Louis XV very well, and his performance also is uplifted by the fact that his character feels the most three dimensional compared to those he is surrounded by. Maïwenn’s performance is also elevated when in his company, and the film is at its best when it effectively captures their chemistry. The humor also landed pretty well, and was effective at disarming and poking fun at some of the ridiculous regalities that are on display throughout the film. My only other experience with a Maïwenn film comes from Polisse, which I enjoyed very much, though it feels almost entirely different to the style, tone, and themes of this film. Though Jeanne du Barry clearly benefits from a higher budget than Polisse, it feels stripped of the heart and emotional complexity that made that film compelling. Instead, Jeanne du Barry is a film that plays it extremely safe, telling a straightforward story that is afraid to demean or complicate its characters in any way, even if the film as a whole remains sufficiently entertaining throughout its runtime.
Written by Michael Saccone