So I finally sat down to watch Jeanne du Barry, and I gotta say, I was surprised how good it was not the most impressive movie of the year but my expectations were low, Johnny Depp return to the big screen had me wondering about this French period story I knew nothing about, I'm not a reader so had no clue about who is Jeanne du Barry? until I watched the movie, I didn’t know she was actually a character back in the 1700s, the movie mostly develops around her journey from just a regular girl to being the king’s favorite mistress, which does sound like another common drama from the period, it was a common thing for the King to have a mistress and often move from one to another, most of the time even unnoticed, but there’s actually more than that during the movie. The movie puts us right in the middle of 18th century France, where we meet Jeanne who was born very poor but she uses her beauty and brains to rise up the social ladder, how in the world does she get herself educated in a time when most common low social class men and women hardly even read, how does she discover these spicy books that teach her how to use her charm to get what she wants from men and she really puts that knowledge to good use, she ends up catching the eye of King Louis XV himself which was pretty impressive.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17277414/
- Platform: AppleTV+
Rottentomatoes Rating
The fact that this movie is set hundreds of years ago and yet I can not be bored and some how relate to it because it doesn't take itself too seriously, I realized I love when historical dramas make fun of all the ridiculous rules and customs of the French court back in the days, nothing against their culture its just that some things were extremely ridiculous considering the outfit but mostly women hair how extravagant it would be just to get notice, between others such as walking backwards when leaving the King’s presence, or even not allowing you to look him in the eye, these are the sort of details that make the history more interesting and more relatable.
Jeanne life paints the picture perfectly during the movie, from her humble beginnings as a servant to her rise in French society as she helps her mother as a servant, she becomes very popular with rich men and finally meets the Count Guillaume du Barry who introduces her to court life, once up there on this exclusive social circle we can say you already make it but staying up there is the hard part, as anything else in life is staying relevant, but the real story begins when she met King Louis XV played by Johnny Depp. Their relationship being the heart of the movie even though everyone at Versailles is scandalized, especially King's daughters who really can't stand her.
The movie gets really interesting at this point because Jeanne doesn't play by their rules, she wears her hair down when she's not supposed to and basically does whatever she wants which of course drives the nobles crazy but the King loves it because she brings some life to the world that he's trapped in, a rebel within the society they living in, its like that saying "King can marry a servant but a Queen cant" , the King had all the power to allow all her "extravagant" or lets say different behavior but everything in live has a limit, after all is pretty cool to watch how she manages to be herself in a place where everyone is expected to follow strict rules and protocols. Before watching this movie I was honestly just curious to see how Depp would do in his comeback after all that drama with his ex wife, but he actually step up and deliver a solid performance as Louis XV, he doesn't say much because his character is supposed to be this powerful figure that don't need to say much mostly because all the rules and protocols in place that favors him in any possible way, there's this sadness in his eyes and it really fits in the character of a king who's kind of tired of all the royal stuff, reason why he connect so well with Jeanne.
Maiwenn brings this energy to the character, she makes Jeanne feel real and so natural, after there is nothing magic or fantasy about her character, all she need to do was look raw and different between the rest of the court, not just some historical figure of a textbook but with Jeanne’s determination to be who she wants to be, even when everyone is trying to make her play the rules, this could be consider pretty inspiring by women who feel the same, the chemistry between her and Depp really work out, the romance between them has to stay kinda tame down because they are in such a courtly royalish relationship. Everything from the costumes to the set design to the movie really nails the feel of Versailles in the 1770s, they shot in actual historical locations, something I didn't know until after the movie decided to look up more about Jeanne, this gives a great touch of authenticity you can't really fake, watching all these scenes in candlelight makes it feel more real and intimate, I wouldn't say like you are actually there but there is some immersion effect to it.
The ending of the movie hits pretty hard, we see Louis XV getting sick with smallpox and it’s interesting how they handle this part instead of rushing through it and kill the man, they take their time showing how his illness affects everyone especially Jeanne. There is one really powerful scene where they keep a lamp lit on his balcony to show he’s still alive, which is such a strange but curious historical detail, when he finally dies, Jeanne’s world basically falls apart and the movie doesn’t shy away from showing what happens to her after Louis XV’s death, this is the classic mistress story when they are put aside or in this case the King dies, most of the time many of them had no tittle and were 100% dependent from him so it was just obvious whats going to happen once he dies. Jeanne ends up getting caught up in the French Revolution, which is kind of ironic considering how hard she fought to get free from social rules, and Zamor a young guy she treated like a son ends up turning against her during the revolution and the movie kind of cover up over the fact that she eventually got executed, but maybe that's because they wanted to focus more on her life than her death and not over extend it to the point to create cliff hangers.
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