Johnny Depp makes a regal return as King Louis XV in the lavish period drama ‘Jeanne Du Barry’

By James Verniere/Boston Movie News

One of Johnny Depp’s first film projects since l’affaire de Depp/Heard, “Jeanne Du Barry” is a period semi-spectacle chronicling the fairy-tale-like,18th-century life of Jeanne du Barry, “a “pleb and commoner,” daughter of a cook and a monk, who rose to the rank of countess and became the cherished lover and confidante of King Louis XV (Depp). Directed, co-written, and produced by the mononymous Maiwenn (“DNA”), the film features Depp in elaborate costumes, wigs, and fanciful period surroundings as we have become accustomed to seeing him in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films. But on top of all that, the film is entirely in French, a language that Depp, who has two French-speaking children with ex-Vanessa Paradis, speaks, although the King’s dialogue is minimalist.

Director and co-writer Maiwenn had an affair with French filmmaker Luc Besson when she was in her teens, which may be the inspiration behind Natalie Portman’s role in “The Professional” (1994). Maiwenn also plays the title role in “Jeanne Du Barry” and has said that she wanted to make a film about du Barry since seeing Sofia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette” (2006).

Maiwenn’s film has a powerful feminist undercurrent. We see a young, charming Jeanne (Loli Bahia) being pampered by her mother’s employers and educated at a convent school. In Paris, where she succeeds as a courtesan, one of the only occupations available to her, the beautiful and witty Jeanne becomes the mistress of Compte Jean du Barry (Melvil Poupad). She even becomes devoted to the Count’s adolescent son, Adolphe (Thibault Bonenfant). At a gathering of the aristocracy at Versailles (the film’s most important set: lavish, wooded grounds and gilded and tapestry-covered interiors included), Jeanne captures the eye of the King. After a thorough gynecological exam, she is deemed “worthy of the royal bed.” The next morning, she secretly observes the King’s lavish morning ritual, the “King’s levee,” with multiple servants, doctors, wigmakers, clerics, and royals.

Johnny Depp, left, as Louis XV, in ‘Jeanne du Barry.’ (Photo from Vertical)

The King’s daughters, still grieving the death of their mother, the Queen, fiercely disapprove of this interloper. They refer to her as “the creature” and plot against Jeanne. When the Dauphin (Diego Le Fur) marries Marie-Antoinette of Austria (Pauline Pollmann), the King’s daughters enlist the newcomer in their war against du Barry. Could the plot get any more Disney-esque?

Maiwenn may be too old to play the younger Jeanne. But the actor’s beauty, charm, and charisma make it irrelevant. Unlike the unwashed masses, Jeanne believes that she can have it all (and deserves it). As her sole protector and secret ally, La Borde, whose job is to teach Jeanne how to curtsy and walk away from the King without turning her back, French actor Benjamin Lavernhe (“The French Dispatch”) almost steals the show. He is a courtier who cannot reveal his true feelings about the controversial du Barry, which we nonetheless see gleaming brightly in his eyes. As the most fiercely anti-du Barry King’s daughter, Adelaide of France, India Hair is amusingly detestable.

Depp cloaks the King in magisterial mystery. There is an unknown or perhaps unknowable quantity about him (it may simply be the absolute entitlement). He and Maiwenn have a child-like friendship. The King loves Jeanne precisely because she is not “one of them.” When the King is advised that du Barry cannot be part of his entourage, he responds, “She is my entourage.” She is a wild child princess who turns her back to the King and sometimes scandalizes the court by dressing like a man, creating a craze. In a typical scene, Jeanne and her new African page Zamor (Djibril Djimo) slip-slide down the wide and glittering Hall of Mirrors (mirrors are one of the film’s motifs). Maiwenn has a keen eye for stately compositions and the conventions of period films. “Jeanne Du Barry” has a narrator (Stanilas Stanic) like Stanley Kubrick’s “Barry Lyndon” (1975), another Maiwenn favorite. Many shots are staged in the grand gardens and grounds of Versailles. Depp brings playfulness, sorrow, fear, and gravitas to one of the longest death scenes in recent memory. The subsequent Revolution is quickly summarized in captions. The guillotine awaits. But the du Barry legend lives on.

‘Jeanne Du Barry’

Rating: Not rated, contains sexually suggestive scenes

Cast: Maiwenn, Johnny Depp, Benjamin Lavernhe, Thibault Bonenfant, Melvil Poupaud

Director: Maiwenn

Writer: Maiwenn, Teddy Lussi-Modeste and Nicolas Levecchi

Running Time: 1 hour 57 minutes

Where to Watch: AMC Boston Common, AMC Liberty Tree Mall, and other suburban theaters

Grade: B+