Maïwenn's 'Jeanne Du Barry' opens the 76th Festival du Cannes May 16

The opening film at Cannes on May 16th at Grand Théâtre Lumière is Jeanne Du Barry screened out of competition, a lavish production on the mistress of the French monarch Louis XV (Johnny Depp), Madame Du Barry played by the film’s director Maïwenn. The director is the recipient of the Jury Prize in 2011 for Polisse and nominated for a Palme d’Or for Mon Roi in 2015 where Emmanuelle Bercot won best actress. Maïwenn was previously married to filmmaker Luc Besson and said that the character of Mathilda in Léon (1994) played by Natalie Portman was based on her.

Jeanne Du Barry stars Benjamin Lavernhe, Melvil Poupaud, Pierre Richard, Pascal Greggory, and India Hair. Maïwenn reports that Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette (2016) and the character of Du Barry played by Asia Argento was the primary inspiration to her film. She said she read everything she could on the woman who was guillotined during the reign of terror of the French revolution. The award-winning director began working on the script in 2016 with an historian at the Sorbonne.

Madame Du Barry who became the favorite of the king was a working-class woman and daughter of a seamstress who successfully climbed the social latter and made her way to Versailles, scorned by men and women alike. She later was installed in chambers by Louis XV who said she was the first woman to look at him as a man, not a king.

Johnny Depp was not Maïwenn's first choice to play Louis XV, but he accepted immediately to the French speaking role even during the trial with Amber Heard. Maïwenn is on record of not being in favor of #METOO.  Depp’s dialogue is limited that he compares to acting by silent film stars such as Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. The director revealed that the misè en scene of the film shot in 35mm is primarily adapted for the actors instead of to pre-filmic preparation.

Moira Jean Sullivan