“Johnny I love you”, screams a face in the crowd, tears are in the eyes of another, men and women bend dangerously far over the parapet to take a picture of their star. Johnny Depp has arrived at the Cannes Film Festival.
The former Pirates of the Caribbean star stars in the French historical comedy Jeanne du Barry, which has been selected as the festival’s opening film. That means: a gala premiere with a red carpet, a flurry of flashbulbs and television broadcasting. That means: Hundreds of people who start a standing ovation in front of the camera as Depp and director/actress Maïwenn run into the hall. That means: a “welcome back” as a scandal-ridden star could wish for.
Still, I couldn’t stop thinking about his ex-wife, Amber Heard, during the Jeanne du Barry screening – and that made the film more interesting than it deserved.
Johnny Depp makes a comeback attempt with Jeanne du Barry
Jeanne du Barry is Johnny Depp’s first film since Minamata (2020). In November 2020, Depp was fired from the production of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald following allegations of domestic violence. A future as Jack Sparrow in another Pirates of the Caribbean film also seemed unlikely. Depp then sued Amber Heard in a civil lawsuit for defamation. The jury awarded him $10 million in damages, while Heard was awarded $2 million for defamation by Depp’s attorney. After Heard appealed, they agreed to a settlement.
Check out the trailer for Jeanne du Barry:
Jeanne du Barry – Trailer (French) HD
The outcome of the trial was seen as a victory for Depp but by no means left a clean-cut star image due to the conflicting evidence and intimate details. As King Louis XV. he takes the second step of rehabilitation after the trial.
Jeanne du Barry made it from humble circumstances to the royal court
In a ponderous prologue, we are told how Jeanne (Maïwenn) was born into modest circumstances in 18th-century France. Through her erudition and extraordinary beauty, she rose to the rank of courtesan in the highest circles of Parisian society. One day, thanks to the schemes of Count du Barry (Melvil Poupaud) and the Duc de Richelieu (film legend Pierre Richard), she is standing in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles when King Louis XV, who is bored with life, (Johnny Depp) becomes aware of them. Both fix their eyes on each other, it is desire at first sight and will turn into love.
As a constant companion, Jeanne du Barry gives the king a new zest for life, while the working-class girl learns about the luxury, rituals and intrigues of palace life. The princesses are not at all amused by their presence.
How Johnny Depp’s personal life changes his new movie
There may be people who can ignore an actor’s public life when watching a film. I do not belong to it. Which doesn’t mean that I sat in the cinema in Cannes for almost two hours indignantly. But Depp’s very public take on Heard, as well as her egregious allegations of domestic violence, change the way I look at his performance.
The same is true of stunt-addicted Scientology publicist Tom Cruise. Or when I watch Iron Man and remember how long and arduous Robert Downey Jr.’s journey out of the drug quagmire was. Films are not shot in a vacuum, image and biography go hand in hand. Especially with Hollywood stars, the choice of role has a strategic purpose. With Jeanne du Barry, this is unmistakable.
Jeanne meets a number of men who try to take advantage of her, Johnny Depp’s King Louis XV. appears between candelabra and chocolate covered strawberries like the last respectable man in a corrupt world. Depp plays a Ludwig who faithfully defends his Jeanne against his malicious daughters and seems to be one of the few people between the powdered wigs at court. And Depp is good in this role. He plays so reserved and quiet, as one could hardly expect after umpteen Pirates of the Caribbean films and Tim Burton masquerades.
Why Not Productions
Jeanne du Barry
The hidden looks, the smile, the sad eyes – in Jeanne du Barry, Depp tells more about his king with limited resources than the superficial screenplay allows. Most of the time it can’t make up its mind whether Jeanne du Barry wants to be a flat satire of courtly stupidity or a serious drama about a proto-feminist. low point of the film: Du Barry’s “adoption” of the African boy Zamor, who later became one of the more intriguing figures of the French Revolution. In this film he is only allowed to say two or three sentences in scenes that are supposed to portray Jeanne and her Ludwig as anti-racists.
Jeanne du Barry is full of ill-considered attempts to stylize the heroine as an icon whose views are still tenable today. Against this background, the casting Depps seems all the more bizarre. If you watch Jeanne du Barry without this prior knowledge, you might see one dramedy striving for wit and pomp without deeper insights into their central couple.
If you watch him with that knowledge, you’re watching a man try to wash himself clean in several cycles. Cannes offered him the largest possible stage for this – decorated with screaming fans and declarations of love. This is clearly the more interesting, but also the more disturbing movie.
Jeanne du Barry does not have a German start date yet.