#jeanne du barry

[freshmoviequotes]

Jeanne du Barry (2023)

#jeanne du barry #maïwenn #movies #film #quotes #2023

[rosepompadour]

PAULINE POLLMANN as MARIE ANTOINETTE in JEANNE DU BARRY (2023)

#there were some BOLD choices made in this movie #and that's all i have to say about that #historicwomendaily #historyedit #perioddramaedit #perioddramasource #jeanne du barry #marie antoinette #history #*

[fuckyeahcostumedramas]

Maïwenn as the titular character in Jeanne du Barry (Film, 2023).

#maiwenn #jeanne du barry #perioddramaedit #18th century #Jürgen Doering

[bebx]

Mads Mikkelsen and Johnny Depp via Mads’s official Facebook account — “Grindewald and Grindewald”

Cannes Film Festival, May 16 2023, after the screening of Johnny’s new movie, Jeanne Du Barry

#johnny depp #mads mikkelsen #jeanne du barry #gellert grindelwald #fantastic beasts #grindelwald #hannibal #pirates of the caribbean #hollywood #jack sparrow #captain jack sparrow #wonka #willy wonka #warner brothers #warner bros #warner bros discovery #wb pictures #disney #disney + #johnny depp is a legend #disney plus

[dailyjdepp]

JOHNNY DEPP. "Jeanne Du Barry" Photocall at Red Sea Film Festival.

#johnny depp #jdeppedit #johnnydeppedit #jeanne du barry #photocall #red sea film festival #photoset

[my-deer-friend]

Jeanne du Barry: A review

I watched it, so you don’t have to!

There was a preview screening of Jeanne du Barry that coincided with a presentation on 18th century fashion and hygiene, so I figured that would make for a pleasant Sunday. The lecture by Marta Veil was splendid.

The movie was… not.

I wasn't expecting greatness, really, but I also wasn't expecting it to fail in quite so many ways. Shall we count them?

First, it falls flat as a piece of cinema. The ponderous shots just scream second-year-film-student-auteur. The narration, usually a gimmick, is critical because the directorial vision seems to have been “tell, don’t show”. It’s all glamour with no heart, a faux-profound fashion parade that fails to let its consequential story beats resonate on any emotional or narrative level. Despite being told about the constant danger than Jeanne is in, we never feel it. Despite witnessing her tragedies, we don't empathise.

The lead actor-director gives du Barry none of the wit, charm or depth you would expect of the subject of a biography, and most characters are either outrageous caricatures (the evil, Alice in Wonderlandian step-daughters, complete with heart-shaped perms) or have the nuance and magnetism of an untoasted slice of white bread (the Dauphin, a key side character, shows not a single discernible character trait besides “aloof”).

Second, it fails as a biography. Maïwenn, the woman responsible for this mess, has apparently been trying to bring this story to life for over a decade - and then manages to give us nothing more than the blow-for-blow you can get from the du Barry Wikipedia article - dryness and all.

(It’s also exceedingly clear that Maïwenn got more than a little 'inspired’ by Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, and ironically - given their historical rivalry and the way Coppola's Antoinette was lifted wholesale from her film - the Dauphine outshines du Barry completely here.)

Despite being a biography, the movie devotes very little attention to Jeanne’s coming of age - and almost no time (literally, a 30-second narration) to the 12+ years of her life after Louis’ death, which include such dramatic things as her being betrayed by her servants, tried and executed in the wake of the French Revolution. Very little of her internal world is explored - so we don’t really understand what drives her, and even when she expresses her goals it comes across as insincere.

The bulk of the movie focuses on Jeanne’s time as Louis XV’s lover. That’s understandable, I guess - people want the sexy, sparkly intrigues, not the convent drudgery - but the movie doesn’t do any work to embrace the politics and scandal surrounding her on more than the meanest surface level. I mean - "this is Versailles!" (A line that’s cribbed verbatim from Coppola.) Where are the machinations, the manoeuvres? The only meaningful drama we get is domestic. Louis’ daughters don’t like his mistress. They’re mean to her. And… that’s it.

Most egregiously, the movie makes the unrecoverable error of losing grasp of its own point of view. We ostensibly follow Jeanne for most of the movie, in what is made out to be a limited first-person perspective. But when she’s banished from Versailles, we get to witness the unfolding events without her. After all, the death of Louis XV is surely more interesting than some woman bundled off to a convent (wait— who is this movie about…?) and so we stay with him - and miss the opportunity to follow Jeanne and empathise with her isolation, fear and grief.

If the goal of the movie was to humanise and rehabilitate du Barry, then maybe she shouldn’t have been made so vapid, boring and lacking in agency that her own biography lost interest in her.

Third, it fails as a historical piece. Not entirely - some of the men’s fashions are sumptuous and on point, Marie Antoinette is chef’s-kiss, and Versailles looks splendid on screen - but that makes the rest worse, somehow.

Again, we get Coppola plagiarism, in the form of Louis’ morning dressing routine (with the same comical play on the endless steps and bored attendants), as well as in many of du Barry’s fish-out-of-water moments.

But the movie forgets its own rules and context. For example, we’re told that “no one except the Dauphin is allowed to turn their back on the king” - a rule that’s respected until about midway in the movie, at which point, its plot purpose exhaused, it's forgotten entirely. Jeanne is also surprisingly enlightened about racial equality, showcased in painful scenes with Zamor, her black… servant? slave? Although it’s not really clarified on screen, the former is heavily implied, which would be gross revisionism.

Even Louis is treated with a strange sort of familiarity, left to mill around with his guests in the hall of mirrors or stroll the gardens with his hair undone.

As for the clothing… I can’t bear to deep-dive into the entirety of the mess, but here are a few examples of just how lazy the styling is.

Now, when he’s done up in his finery, Louis XV actually looks grand - and even (what a rarity) has very decent period men’s make-up. But then it’s clowns all the way down. Take this shot.

Just behind him is his daughter, sporting a top-of-the-pops 1980s crimped blowout, and beside her is the Dauphin of France - though you could be mistaken for thinking he’s some fella getting to pose for a romance novel cover in the world's most ill-fitting suit. (I don’t recall this man tying his hair up one single time for the duration of the movie.)

Some of the critique is a little nitpicky, yes - for example, du Barry wears this outfit to be formally presented to the king:

The big hair and ostrich feathers are a decade too early (stop trying to be Marie Antoinette: The Unauthorised Prequel already), the makeup is mid 2000s, and the necklace... the less said about it, the better. But at least an attempt was made!

But this?

And this???

0.5 out of 5 stars. It would have been zero on account of all the plagiarism, but a half-star is given for the cameo of Elizabeth Vigée Le Brun.

#jeanne du barry #jeanne du barry movie #18th century history #18th century fashion #but only just barely

[lovelyheart502]

#johnny depp #jeanne du barry

[johnnydeppsoldier]

Johnny Depp as King Louis XV|Jeanne Du Barry 🤍

#johnnydepp #johnny #johnnydeppforever #jd #johnnydeppstyle #love #depphead #deppheads #my heart #my love #jeanne du barry #king louis xv

[theroseinthedarkness]

The King is back!! 😎👑

#justice for johnny depp #johnny depp #johnny depp is a survivor #jeanne du barry #gifs: events #events: cannes 2023 #gifs: cannes 2023 #bytheroseinthedarkness

[freshmoviequotes]

Jeanne du Barry (2023)

#jeanne du barry #maïwenn #benjamin lavernhe #movies #film #quotes #2023

[aksiris]

#jeanne du barry #art #drawing main characters? #was never an option #this guy deserves all the love #de la borde #louis xv of france #artists on tumblr #history

[fuckyeahcostumedramas]

Maïwenn as the titular character in Jeanne du Barry (Film, 2023).

#maiwenn #madame du barry #jeanne du barry #18th century #Jürgen Doering

[bebx]

Jeanne du Barry (2023)

Starring Johnny Depp as King Louis XV and Maïwenn as Madamn du Barry

The film will have its world premiere at Cannes film festival. May 16th, 2023

#jeanne du barry #johnny depp #hollywood #cannes #cannes 2023 #king louis xv #gellert grindelwald #fantastic beasts #grindelwald #period drama #period film #period films #cannes film festival #johnny depp is a legend #depphead #deppheads #pirates of the caribbean #jack sparrow #captain jack sparrow #maïwenn

[dailyjdepp]

JOHNNY DEPP. “Jeanne Du Barry” first trailer.

#johnny depp #jdeppedit #johnnydeppedit #jeanne du barry #gifs #gifset

[voguefashion]

Paola Turani wearing Paolo Sebastian, at the Jeanne du Barry screening & opening ceremony red carpet at the 76th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 16th 2023.

#paola turani #paolo sebastian #jeanne du barry #cannes film festival #cannes #2023 #style #fashion #red carpet #2020s

[yasaman2003]

the hottest man in france tonight

#johnny depp #cann festival #cann festival 2023 #jeanne du barry #edit #johnny depp edit