Jeanne du Barry review: 'Johnny Depp is subdued to the point where he's barely conscious' – BBC
Johnny Depp was Hollywood royalty: if he wasn’t fairly the king of the US movie trade, he was actually considered one of its dashing princes. However his crown has slipped. Following his much-publicised authorized battles along with his ex-wife, Amber Heard, Hollywood could also be extra reticent to forged him in blockbusters as of late. However they do issues otherwise in France. Not solely did Maïwenn decide Depp to play Louis XV in her costume drama, Jeanne du Barry, however the movie was picked to open this 12 months’s Cannes Movie Pageant. It was a controversial selection – and that was even earlier than Maiwenn was sued by {a magazine} editor for assault. If the Pageant’s organisers needed to declare that they didn’t care about fashionable opinion, this was actually one approach to do it.
Extra like this:
– 12 of the perfect movies to date in 2023
– Why are blockbusters badly-lit?
– The flicks too dangerous for the cinema
It is a disgrace that the movie itself is so unremarkable. In addition to directing and co-writing it, Maïwenn stars as Jeanne Bécu, a girl from a humble background who turned the king’s favoured mistress within the 1760s. It’s the form of story which has been instructed with revisionist, feminist pizzazz in Couch Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Favorite, and Marie Kreutzer’s Corsage, however Maïwenn has opted for a extra conventional, stolid method that lacks each waspish wit and earthy authenticity. She takes us methodically by way of the important thing episodes in Bécu’s rags-to-riches life, however leaves a narrator to explain a lot of the dramatic moments. The palaces, frocks and metre-high wigs are suitably fabulous, however not in a approach you have not seen 100 instances earlier than.
It is disappointing, as a result of there are indicators early on that the movie may need a extra mischievous spirit. Bécu is proven as a woman who’s kicked out of a convent for studying racy books, after which she is proven once more as a younger girl who strikes to Paris and establishes herself as a sought-after courtesan, with the assistance of her aristocratic pimp, Le Comte du Barry (Melvil Poupaud). He arranges for her to satisfy the king, whereupon she casually submits to a gynaecological examination by the royal medics, and giggles on the palace protocol taught to her by a strict however sweetly affected person major-domo (Benjamin Lavernhe): nobody is allowed to show away from His Majesty once they go away a room, he explains, in order that they need to click-clack backwards in tiny, shuffling steps.
In these introductory scenes, Depp’s casting instantly makes excellent sense. Right here is somebody who is aware of what it’s wish to have obscene wealth, and an entourage of lackeys who cater to his each whim, however by no means give him a second’s peace. With a captivating half smile and a roll of his eyes, he exhibits us how bored Louis is with the rigmarole, and we will see why he could be drawn to the irreverent Jeanne. Sadly, her irreverence would not final. As soon as she is put in within the Palace of Versailles, Louis’s grown-up daughters (caricatured because the ugly sisters from Cinderella) are scandalised {that a} commoner ought to be swanning round. However her radicalising affect quantities to … errrr … beginning a style for sporting stripy clothes.
Jeanne Du Barry
Directed by: Maiwenn
Starring: Maïwenn, Johnny Depp, Melvil Poupaud
Size: 1 hr 56 minutes
It is a weirdly conservative and royalist enterprise. Each Jeanne and the movie as an entire admire Louis unconditionally, forgiving him for having a manufacturing line of mistresses, as an example, and for giving her an African boy as a gift, as if he had been a pet. This indulgence might be traditionally correct, but it surely leaves the heroine coming throughout as a doormat with no agenda or wishes of her personal past hanging onto her place because the king’s saved girl. Nor can we purchase into the vanity that theirs is a love story for the ages, as a result of there is not sufficient chemistry between the 2 lead actors. Maïwenn would not have the magnetism required for the half – it is unlikely she would have been forged if she wasn’t the director – and Depp is subdued to the purpose the place he is barely aware. It is refreshing to see a reserved, understated efficiency from him for a change, however he hardly looks like a person within the throes of a life-changing ardour. Contemplating the risqué subject material, the movie is very coy about what Jeanne would possibly do to make him so keen on her, too.
It is value remembering that the final time the Cannes Pageant opened with a biographical drama about European royalty, it was Grace of Monaco, and Jeanne du Barry is nowhere close to as dangerous as that was. It is a respectable, watchable, mild-mannered cleaning soap opera, and when you’re a fan of horse-drawn carriages and gilded residences, then you could possibly do worse. However you could possibly additionally do quite a bit higher. The mix of Depp and Maïwenn could have appeared like a harmful one, however on this event they’re enjoying it protected.
★★☆☆☆
Love movie and TV? Be part of BBC Tradition Movie and TV Membership on Fb, a neighborhood for cinephiles everywhere in the world.
If you need to touch upon this story or anything you’ve gotten seen on BBC Tradition, head over to our Fb web page or message us on Twitter.
And when you favored this story, join the weekly bbc.com options publication, referred to as The Important Record. A handpicked number of tales from BBC Future, Tradition, Worklife and Journey, delivered to your inbox each Friday.
Adblock check (Why?)
