Maïwenn’s Jeanne du Barry is a work without a unifying thesis. Born Jeanne Bécu in 1743, Louis Xv’s favorite mistress (played as an adult by Maïwenn herself) was a courtesan who was elevated to a countess, and to the scandalized horror of the French court. At first, the film seems primed to deliver a send-up of courtly ritual and hypocritical noble decorum, à la Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette. But like the real Countess du Barry, it’s eventually caught up in the very pomp and splendor that it initially lampoons.
It’s in that initial, comical examination of court etiquette that Maïwenn’s film is at its strongest. When Jeanne, a courtesan favored by aristocrats who take her along to court, arrives at Versailles and is offered like livestock to Louis Xv (Johnny Depp), we see through her eyes how the palace has turned every single action into...
It’s in that initial, comical examination of court etiquette that Maïwenn’s film is at its strongest. When Jeanne, a courtesan favored by aristocrats who take her along to court, arrives at Versailles and is offered like livestock to Louis Xv (Johnny Depp), we see through her eyes how the palace has turned every single action into...
- 4/28/2024
- by Jake Cole
- Slant Magazine
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