Jeanne du Barry: a movie of hand and eye not speech or action; Court intrigue but not like The Other Boleyn Girl, The Madness of King George, or even Dangerous Liaisons. This is a biography about Jeanne Bécu (Madame du Barry) with her time in Versailles as the chief mistress to King Louis XV being its main focus.
The film is set within the years leading up to the French Revolution when everything changed at Versailles because of Jacobins who rewrote all the rules about power in France. It was a time of great class consciousness, but this consciousness also fuelled what became known as ‘the Terror’. She was born into poverty illegitimately sired by an impoverished seamstress before working as a prostitute during libertine era France where she climbed her way up through men’s ranks until reaching him — who could have been considered scandalous enough to threaten such things? Yet strangely enough he loved her too much for any such thought ever crossing his mind.
It is a subtle sexy sensitive portrait by Maïwenn which gives us some idea what life might have been like for women back then especially those who were lucky/unlucky enough to catch themselves entangled with kingships; however there are also moments throughout this film where one cannot help but notice that it seems more interested in making comments on power and/or class than anything else.
Maïwenn is often radiant in this film, using her beautiful hair and wide smile to great effect. Her laughter and innocent disdain for pomp and circumstance are infectious. If anything, Maïwenn paints too rosy a picture of Jeanne and Louis XV, jettisoning any part of their characters that wasn’t touched by passion or adoration; they become heroes, which is odd given the state France was in during their reigns (the guillotine will begin chopping off Versailles’ heads during Jeanne’s lifetime) — this may offend some (socialists, historians). Still, Jeanne du Barry is a historical romance film, not a historical document for academics.
But as a director, Maïwenn’s portrayal of mid-to-late 18th century France is objectively stunning and historically accurate to the layperson. The filmmaker stages a series of gorgeous tableaux vivants that practically breathe life into great French neoclassicism; these images feel straight out of Jacques-Louis David’s sketchbook.
Maïwenn and cinematographer Laurent Dailland use light and shadow in very sensual ways; her long shots of massive manors/rooms are regal and impressive. Stephen Warbeck’s score is suitably tender & majestic though it does just feel like a less bombastic version of his score for Shakespeare in Love 25 years ago.
One thing that I found to be especially interesting about Jeanne du Barry was how it subtly explores the dispensable nature of people/positions along with the transitory quality desire/power has upon them — most typified by “The King is dead! Long live the King!” One falls another takes its place so on so forth until? The coming French Revolution would take care of that.
In fact, Jeanne du Barry introduces us to Zamor — the former slave who would serve as page to Jeanne; in the movie she looks after him like a son. He, in return, sees her as his mother. In real life, however, Zamor was so bitter towards Jeanne that he helped imprison her and had a hand in getting her executed (which is vaguely alluded to in the film’s post-text). Then again this being part typicality of French Revolution history where not only did they imprison Zamor but for having been associated with her sentenced him too; at one moment power reigns supreme only to be subjugated at another — The King is dead, long live the King or as The Who sang “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”
And such is the bittersweetness of Jeanne du Barry: we see her love affair with Louis XV burn brightly before quickly being replaced by Louis XVI & Marie Antoinette (who would obviously be killed during French Revolution); we see Jeanne as beautiful young woman & graying melancholic older one; we see king in power & dying from smallpox. If anything though it captures just one brief period in a King’s life Jeanne du Barry could best be described as meditation on transience.
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