© Stéphanie Branchu / Why Not Productions.
Opening: Jeanne du Barry, grandeur and decadence in the Age of Enlightenment
This is the sixth feature film and the fourth work in the Official Selection for Maïwenn who presents, as the Opening film Out of Competition, her first period film, set in the Age of Enlightenment. Following Polisse, which won the 2011 Jury Prize, Mon Roi (2015), which garnered the Best Actress Award for Emmanuelle Bercot, and an exploration, with ADN (DNA), of her Algerian roots alongside Fanny Ardant (2020), Maïwenn celebrates the legendary destiny of Jeanne du Barry, courtesan and favourite of King Louis XV: who was as flamboyant and daring as the director herself.
Shot on 35mm film, and mostly on location at the Château de Versailles when it was closed to the public on Mondays, Jeanne du Barry follows the incredible journey of a girl from humble origins who became the favourite of King Louis XV, and who would fall from grace in the years after his death. Scriptwriter, director and main character of her film, Maïwenn dons the bodice of Jeanne du Barry and plays opposite the American actor Johnny Depp, to whom she gives the role of the King of France. The role required the actor, who already had a decent knowledge of French, to put in some work in advance of the shoot on his pronunciation of the language of Molière. Alongside him Benjamin Lavernhe of the Comédie Française plays La Borde, the larger-than-life valet to the king, Melvil Poupaud is the Comte du Barry, Jeanne’s husband, Pierre Richard and Pascal Greggory have prominent supporting roles as the Duc de Richelieu and the Duc d’Aiguillon, and the young India Hair plays Adélaïde, the king’s daughter.
The soundtrack – as pivotal as it is in all of Maïwenn’s films – is by Stephen Warbeck, who also created the soundtracks for Polisse, Mon Roi and ADN (DNA). The classical-style music “which can be listened to without the film” was composed to contrast with the images as it does in Barry Lindon, which is Maïwenn’s model of the perfect film.
