Official film posters forJeanne du Barrydropped on the Instagram ofpost-production partnerRSIFF this Sunday, following recent announcements that the historical period drama will open up Cannes this year. The sixth film from French actress/director Maïwenn (The Fifth Element),Jeanne du Barryfeatures Maïwenn in the title role of King Louis XV’s (Johnny Depp) scandalous royal mistress.
The film follows the tale of Madame du Barry’s rise to court as the choicest companion of Louis XV from her most humblest of beginnings. The mistress’s elevation from the role of courtesan to the very heights of Versaille historically embattled the King’s court amidst unprecedented intrigue and scandal. The lovers’ gazes mirrored across the freshly released diptych of gorgeous film posters focuses on the depth of their tryst, which notoriously withstood the disapproval and scandalization of Louise XV’s own family and royal court.
Clear-eyed and direct, actors Johnny Depp and Maïwenn opulently convey the roles of elegance and sensuality which apparently advanced du Barry’s station (she was able to thwart plots and overturn executions) and returned a sense of joie de vivre to the historic King. The film unveils Depp in a subtitled, French language role following his three-year hiatus from acting. The role choice for his return is an interesting one following Depp’s successful defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard.
Related:Cannes Director Defends Opening Film Festival with Johnny Depp’s New Movie
Screening A Controversy
In a metafictional twist, the role sees Depp embroiled in an intense and complex national scandal centered within a historical universe in some ways parallel to that of the Hollywood elite. The film’s investigation of shadows–and the many-sided, hall-of-mirrors perspectives of relational politics at Versailles–creates a vehicle for Depp to encounter the limelight of that reentry from scandal, housed within a role that allows for a complexity of emotional experience and spectrum of moral public opinion at a historical remove. The inquiry of dark and light sides hinted at in the meticulously visual period scenes provide a point of human observation that may prove bulletproof from a PR perspective in casting Depp’s reemergence to film.
Encountering scandal itself this week in the choice to premiere the film as the headliner for Cannes, Director Thierry Fremaux took to the press to defend the opening choice for the 76th festival. CallingJeanne du Barry“not a ‘controversial choice’, ” the Director explained that the film “isn’t about Johnny Depp” and rather explores “the place of women in politics.” Like the Scorsese film set in the 1920s also premiering this May at Cannes, Fremaux explained that “[it] explores our own moral sense, our humanity, our courage when faced with a situation…”–hinting at a desire to contend with historical relativism towards the screening of films.
Jeanne du Barryis produced by Why Not Production Company and Depp’s production company IN.2, as well as La Petite Reine and France Télévisions. Withdu Barry, RSIFF (Red Sea International Film Festival) is pursuing its first co-production on the post-production end of a French film. The festival said the backing was part of its “ongoing mission to support distinctive filmmaking and champion visionary female talent both on and behind the camera from around the world.”
