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Maïwenn’s Johnny Depp-Starring Cannes Opener Is An Unsalvageable Royal Drama [Cannes]

May 17, 2023

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Speaking on her resolution to convey the story of chief royal mistress Jeanne du Barry to display screen, French actress and director Maïwenn mentioned the determine of the Countess seduced her as a result of she is a “magnificent loser,” including that the attract may need a factor or two to the similarities they share. And, after watching Cannes opener “Jeanne du Barry,” it’s simple to see why the controversial director identifies along with her heroine. Maïwenn, too, has a penchant for mistaking pantomime aptitude for empowerment and flocks to public competition as a fly to vibrant lights. Her newest arrived on the glitzy Croisette beneath a curtain of scrutiny after weeks of high-profile disputes.

Per week earlier than the opening ceremony, the director admitted to spitting on a journalist, an act the reporter believes to have been induced resulting from his publishing of an investigation into rape and sexual assault allegations towards Luc Besson, to whom Maïwenn was married within the 90s. On prime of this explicit scandal, “Jeanne du Barry” led to the creation of the #CannesYouNot motion, led by Amber Heard supporters who protest Cannes’ highlighting of a movie starring Johnny Depp lower than a 12 months after the grotesque home violence trial that pitted the American actor and his former spouse into the grasping pits of tabloids and social media alike.

Pardon the transient sidebar, nevertheless it feels solely apt to briefly dissect the uproar surrounding “Jeanne du Barry” as Maïwenn chooses to have the very American, very misplaced Depp as Louis XV, portrayed right here as a form, benevolent lover to the rebellious du Barry, performed by the director herself. In this retelling of the lesser-known story to feat the vastly common Marie Antoinette, the French monarchy is positioned beneath an virtually slapstick lens, “Jeanne du Barry” leaning closely in the direction of overused gags to compensate for a grueling lack of depth.

We start with Jeanne as a younger woman, the illegitimate daughter of a seamstress welcomed into the lavish abode of a lord. With the hormones of adolescence vigorously pumping by way of her veins, Jeanne turns into enamored with the probabilities of eroticism and shortly turns into a risk to the woman of the home. Off to nuns the teenager goes, ultimately leaving the restrained quarters of the convent and heading into the a lot looser perimeters of a brothel. It is there that Jeanne meets the charming Count du Barry (Melvil Poupaud), who whisks her away with guarantees of a lifetime of pampering and mutual advantages.

As these items often go, life is much from rosy on the du Barry residence and after a couple of gruelling years of filling the bodily abusive Count du Barry’s pockets by working as a mistress for previous, highly effective males, Jeanne hops on the prospect provided by considered one of her dearest shoppers to be launched to the famously selective King Louis XV. The king, in fact, is immediately keen about the lady, a recurring theme in “Jeanne du Barry”, a movie that sees Maïwenn enter rooms to the onomatopeic swoons of lords and customary individuals alike.

The affair between the king and a girl of the road is much from a fairytale and, but, Maïwenn is adamant in imbuing their falling in love with the heavy-handed romanticism of traditional Disney animations, from the gasp-inducing grand entrances to the mousy-faced villains within the form of spoilt princesses. In “Jeanne du Barry,” individuals float aimlessly by way of the half-baked script as there is no such thing as a anchor to floor them to an oz. of tangibility, the movie usually over-relying on aesthetics to compensate for an ever-present sense of senselessness. Sure, the pompous golden-laden rooms of Versailles are stunning to have a look at, however no quantity of adorned manufacturing design and overly dramatic rating can masks the gaping gap of pointlessness.

More than as soon as, Maïwenn makes an attempt to lean into the rebel-turned-icon narrative that fueled latest pageant hits akin to “Corsage” and “Spencer”, pointedly inserting commentary on how criticism usually finds its means into homage. Still, when the titular character is constructed so one-dimensionally, it’s exhausting to see her as something however an avatar meant to face for rulebreakers struggling throughout the confinements of areas constructed on guidelines, a really on-the-nose nod to the lady on the helm of the manufacturing.

The appearing does little to salvage the muddled story, with Depp’s French accent virtually as distracting as his distorted make-up, the actor’s heavy-handed efficiency aiming for a comic book affectation however touchdown dangerously near pastiche. Playing reverse Depp, Maïwenn dramatically contorts her face in an try to convey feelings she fails to embody by way of the tonal shifts of her efficiency, the protagonist not often in a position to evoke the empathy — or loathing — the movie so desperately wants.

If it wasn’t for the highly-publicized scandals that envelop “Jeanne du Barry,” it’s doubtless the movie would make a swift flip from the crimson carpet into ostracism, and whereas the hubbub definitely delays the method, it’ll do little to forestall Maïwenn’s dire newest from the cruel palms of oblivion. [D-]

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Maïwenn’s Johnny Depp-Starring Cannes Opener Is An Unsalvageable Royal Drama [Cannes]

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