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Jeanne duBarry * 2023

Review by Paulette Reynolds
​September 11, 2024 
Director: Maïwenn
Screenplay: Maïwenn, Teddy Lussi-Modeste, Nicolas Livecchi
Produced by : Maïwenn, Pascal Caucheteux, Gregoire Sorlat

Starring Maïwenn/Jeanne duBarry, Johnny Depp/King Louis XV, Benjamin Laverne/La Borde, Louis XV’s Daughters/India Hair, Suzanne de Baecque, Capucine Valmary, and Pauline Pollmann/Marie Antoinette. 
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Previewed at Cannes film festival in 2023, Jeanne duBarry received a seven minute standing ovation. Excitement that the film was finally released? Happy to see Johnny Depp once again on the big screen? Throwing kudos at Maïwenn’s artistic creation? Obviously a little bit of all three, and of course everyone can be permitted a certain level of passion during Cannes week.
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Most of my impressions of  Maïwenn’s first historical film, and Johnny Depp’s return to the big screen derives from the media/film community’s very vocal observations. The level of enthusiasm depends on which side of the pond you’re in: If you’re in Europe - especially France - you can feel the love pulsate for Jeanne duBarry.  If you are in America, it’s somewhat more muted.
After all all the hoopla had died down, the critics were ”mixed” (you either love it or you hate it), and Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb, and the other movie websites posted their final scores. However, even though I’m a big Johnny Depp fan, my reactions were a bit more tempered. 
Throughout cinematic history, duBarry’s form and features have been on display in a number of film productions, from 1915 to Jeanne duBarry, circa 2023. As the slideshow demonstrates, the likes of Mrs. Leslie Carter, Theda Bara, Pola Negri, Norma Talmadge, Dolores del Rio, Gladys George, Lucille Ball, Margot Grahame, Martine Carol, and Asia Argento - all have portrayed the famed paramour.
But let’s visit Jeanne duBarry for a moment. Portraits show a woman at the height of her beauty - hair beautifully coiffed, exquisite makeup, delicate accessories, and extravagant outfits in the most luxurious fashions of the period. She was a skilled courtesan with a heart of gold and a shopaholic – especially when it came to jewelry. That she was a child of the masses is well known and as King Louis XV live-in lover she enjoyed her honeymoon period, experienced royal intrigue, suffered at the hands of his outraged family, and then was dumped by her sugar daddy.  The very slave that had been gifted to her, Zamor, would later snitch to anti-royalists and Madame duBarry would face the guillotine on December 8, 1793 (But really, can you blame him?).
Maïwenn’s performance as Madame duBarry was disappointing for me, but other big screen duBarry’s fared no better. Did she even look at any of the famed courtesan’s portraits? She was 20 years too old for the part, but worse - she did not rise to the level 10 glamour status: Where were the fabulous jewels, fashions, and dresses? Most of the film saw her hair unkempt, with little makeup, dashing about in a plain white linen frock like a naughty child.
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If you’re going to show off a crown jewel, such as Versailles, then the smaller gems (i.e. the cast), should be suitably dressed for the occasion. One expects a higher level of fashion, especially from a French production. Sofia Cappola‘s Madame (Asia Argento) glammed it up, but again did not resemble duBarry so much as a cartoon character. Why are these ground-breaking female directors content to play it safe with a superficial portrayal? Neither woman seems able to find the common thread that makes up this very captivating and complex character, preferring to see her as a one-dimensional comic whore.
And I’m not convinced that Maïwenn directed Johnny Depp either, as Johnny Depp usually directs himself. It’s refreshing to see the veteran bad boy playing a more sedate version of a king who is so used to being a royal that he has but to glare at his daughter to get his point across. Part of duBarry’s charm was - after all - making Louis feel young and fresh in a crowd of painted overstuffed peacocks.
Yet Maïwenn’s strength lies in the focus on her supporting cast - they sparkle and shine as La Borde, the faithful valet (Benjamin Laverne), Louis XV’s gaggle of squawking daughters (India Hair, Suzanne de Baecque, Capucine Valmary), and the misguided Marie Antoinette. Ironically, Pauline Pollmann as the  future Queen of France resembles duBarry with her fragile beauty.  Maïwenn captures the sweeping stage that is Versailles, with its vast landscapes and breath-taking hall of mirrors, departing from the static vistas of past films of the famed palace.
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I’m not quite sure what possessed Maïwenn to play duBarry. Perhaps she was seduced by her backstory, to such an extent that she wrapped herself in the certainty that she could successfully direct, act, coproduce, and cowrite this production. I like my historical productions to be grounded in reality to the extent that the main character should physically resemble the subject and reveal some aspect of their motivations. Maïwenn’s resume is built on more contemporary stories, and so her interpretation here feels very clumsy and amateurish. 
Not surprisingly, the famed filmmaker and actor of Jeanne duBarry may have realized her mistake - hindsight is, after all, 20/20. Asked what film she would direct next, Maïwenn stated she knew for certain, “I won’t be acting in the next one.” *1
*1  'Jeanne du Barry' director Maïwenn on finding common language with actor Johnny Depp
Story by Hannah Brown. October, 2023. MSN.com.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/jeanne-du-barry-director-maiwenn-on-finding-common-language-with-actor-johnny-depp/ar-AA1hxqK9
COPYRIGHT 2012/2024. Paulette Reynolds.  All CineMata Movie Madness blog articles, reviews, faux interviews, commentary, and the Cine Mata character are under the sole ownership of Paulette Reynolds.  All intellectual and creative rights reserved.