„It’s grotesque. / No, it’s Versailles.” – this is one of the exchanges in Jeanne du Barry, directed by Maïwenn, a feature about the famous courtesan of Louis XV, that opened the 2023 edition of the Cannes Film Festival. At first sight, it’s an inspired choice to end an evening that began with an endless procession of stars lined up on the red carpet, wearing their gala gowns, posing on the stairs of the most prestigious screening room in the world.

After a short introduction, accompanied by a classical off-screen voice with a didactical intonation, where we get to know Jeanne (Maïwenn), the illegitimate daughter of a cook and a priest, who wanders the world while learning to become “both a woman and free at the same time”, the protagonist attracts the attention of the Count of Barry (Melvil Poupaud), who turns her into his lover. After a brief stopover at the court of Cardinal Richelieu (Pierre Richard), she arrives at the court of the king (Johnny Depp) who,  charmed by her spectacular presence, offers her the privilege of being his leading courtesan.

It’s hard for me to work out what came first. The film, written and produced by Maïwenn, or the Wikipedia article about Jeanne du Barry, which reads exactly like an IMDB synopsis. The script, constructed on the classical format of a biopic in which everyone is wearing substantial layers of pomade, impossible hairdos, and uncomfortable dresses, spends the majority of its time in the imposing halls of the royal palace, where the entourage of the course dedicates all of its time to etiquette. Jeanne fulfills the role of a surrogate for the spectator within her biography, in the film’s most triumphant moments: although she came bearing some knowledge regarding culture and good manners, she must learn the entire, labyrinthine code of conduct around the God-sent leader from scratch. She must never turn her mack at him, she cannot assist in the ritual of clothing him because she does not have an official role at the court, and she must wait to be spoken to to be accepted. The fact that she is an outsider is constantly underlined, along with the fact that her very presence at the court is, and always will be scandalous – especially in her interactions with the king’s disgraced daughters (more caricaturesque than the emperor’s daughters in the tales written by the Brothers Grimm), who refer to her as a “creature”.

Seen through the director’s prism, Jeanne is a kind of proto-influencer, moving with apparent ease through the circles of power, aware of the effects she has on men – who tolerate her presence with a mix of fascination and amusement – and on the women of the court – at first scandalized that she is wearing trousers (what a mockery of tradition!) or letting her hair down, only to then copy her style of dress.

But Maïwenn, whose fascination with the historical figure of Jeanne du Barry is palpable, never manages to get close enough to her character. Seen through the director’s prism, Jeanne is a kind of proto-influencer, moving with apparent ease through the circles of power, aware of the effects she has on men – who tolerate her presence with a mix of fascination and amusement – and on the women of the court – at first scandalized that she is wearing trousers (what a mockery of tradition!) or letting her hair down, only to then copy her style of dress. The choice is not bad, and it would have paid off much better in the hands of a more able or sophisticated filmmaker, but, in such a conventional film, it just comes across as a simple attempt to play on the modernity of a given historical figure and, and such, elicits empathy towards something easily recognizable. Beyond her “colorful” persona, she is (yet) another character defined by her relationship with a man (initially transactional, then inching closer to love), a man who, in this case, happens to be the king.

And this is how I ended up writing four paragraphs without fuily mentioning (the tiny little elephant in the room – Maïwenn’s choice to cast the very American and very controversial Johnny Depp as Louis XV. From many points of view, the role suits him as well as the elbow-length gloves that he often wears throughout his films. A veritable case of stunt casting, Depp floats throughout his handful of scenes as if he were a stuffed animal, covered in make-up, visibly uncomfortable with his approximate grasp of the French language, and thus having a limited amount of lines. Ultimately, his presence is important enough to secure a headlining role.

The film’s most pleasant surprise comes from elsewhere – the revelation of Benjamin Lavernhe, who does wonders in the role of La Borde, the king’s valet. By far the cast member who feels the most ease in embodying a character that lived two and a half centuries ago, with his impeccable posture and an allure that recalls Peter Cushing, Lavernhe brings a lot of sensibility and humanity to a part that asks him for a lot of close-ups, and a lot of confessions. “I don’t think that the king invited you here to hear your thoughts,” he encourages Jeanne, as he prepares to present her to the king.

Finally, by ending with the death of the king, the script either misses, or is outright uninterested in the opportunity to transform Jeanne into a tragic figure – a path that could have been fruitful, given the fact that her relationship with Marie Antoinette (Pauline Pollman) is insufficiently explored and ambivalent, or their mirrored deaths, after the French Revolution. The role played by Zamor, an African boy that Jeanne raises at the court, along with the outcome of his life, is also just another footnote. And this fate is doubtlessly also awaiting this film.

Dragoș Marin

Dragoș Marin published articles and film reviews on filmreporter.ro and colaborated in various specialized festivals and TV shows. In everyday life he's a prokect manager while continuing to stay connected to pop culture and to write about what he has to say.