Maïwenn’s Jeanne du Barry is a work without a unifying thesis. Born Jeanne Bécu in 1743, Louis Xv’s favorite mistress (played as an adult by Maïwenn herself) was a courtesan who was elevated to a countess, and to the scandalized horror of the French court. At first, the film seems primed to deliver a send-up of courtly ritual and hypocritical noble decorum, à la Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette. But like the real Countess du Barry, it’s eventually caught up in the very pomp and splendor that it initially lampoons.
It’s in that initial, comical examination of court etiquette that Maïwenn’s film is at its strongest. When Jeanne, a courtesan favored by aristocrats who take her along to court, arrives at Versailles and is offered like livestock to Louis Xv (Johnny Depp), we see through her eyes how the palace has turned every single action into...
It’s in that initial, comical examination of court etiquette that Maïwenn’s film is at its strongest. When Jeanne, a courtesan favored by aristocrats who take her along to court, arrives at Versailles and is offered like livestock to Louis Xv (Johnny Depp), we see through her eyes how the palace has turned every single action into...
- 4/28/2024
- by Jake Cole
- Slant Magazine
The Johnny Depp film “Jeanne du Barry” from director and star (and producer and co-writer) Maïwenn will open in U.S. theaters on May 2 as part of a special engagement via Fathom Events and distributor Vertical.
The film will open exclusively in more than 500 U.S. theaters on May 2, 2024, with the possibility that the film could run longer than its “limited” engagement if it’s a success. The first big theatrical release of May 2024 is 20th Century’s “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” which will command many more screens beginning May 10.
“Jeanne du Barry” was the opening night film at last year’s Cannes Film Festival and was a modest box office hit, grossing $13 million outside of the states. Vertical picked it up last June but has yet to release it here.
With more than 500 screens in tow, the movie will be the widest opening for Depp in the U.
The film will open exclusively in more than 500 U.S. theaters on May 2, 2024, with the possibility that the film could run longer than its “limited” engagement if it’s a success. The first big theatrical release of May 2024 is 20th Century’s “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” which will command many more screens beginning May 10.
“Jeanne du Barry” was the opening night film at last year’s Cannes Film Festival and was a modest box office hit, grossing $13 million outside of the states. Vertical picked it up last June but has yet to release it here.
With more than 500 screens in tow, the movie will be the widest opening for Depp in the U.
- 3/6/2024
- by Brian Welk
- Indiewire
“Jeanne du Barry,” the much-discussed Cannes opening night film featuring Johnny Depp as Louis Xv, has been acquired for North American distribution. Vertical grabbed rights to the Maïwenn-directed drama, which stars the writer/director as Jeanne Vaubernier. Vaubernier was a working-class woman in 18th Century France who rose in the social ranks and became King Louis Xv’s lover.
The co-writers are Teddy Lussi-Modeste and Nicolas Livecchi and the film’s producers are Pascal Caucheteux and Grégoire Sorlat. The production companies are Why Not Productions, France 2 Cinéma, France 3 Cinéma, La Petite Reine, Impala Productions, Les Films de Batna, In.2 Film, and Les Films du Fleuve. Below-the-line talent on the film includes cinematographer Laurent Dailland, editor Laure Gardette, production designer Angelo Zamparutti, costume designer Jürgen Doering, and composer Stephen Warbeck.
Johnny Depp in ‘Jeanne du Barry’
“’Jeanne du Barry’ was by far the most talked about film at this year’s Cannes Film Festival,...
The co-writers are Teddy Lussi-Modeste and Nicolas Livecchi and the film’s producers are Pascal Caucheteux and Grégoire Sorlat. The production companies are Why Not Productions, France 2 Cinéma, France 3 Cinéma, La Petite Reine, Impala Productions, Les Films de Batna, In.2 Film, and Les Films du Fleuve. Below-the-line talent on the film includes cinematographer Laurent Dailland, editor Laure Gardette, production designer Angelo Zamparutti, costume designer Jürgen Doering, and composer Stephen Warbeck.
Johnny Depp in ‘Jeanne du Barry’
“’Jeanne du Barry’ was by far the most talked about film at this year’s Cannes Film Festival,...
- 6/7/2023
- by Scott Mendelson
- The Wrap
“Jeanne Du Barry,” the latest film from French director Maïwenn that stars Johnny Depp, has found a North American distributor in Vertical following its Cannes debut, an individual with knowledge told IndieWire.
“Jeanne Du Barry” was the opening night film at the Cannes Film Festival last month, where it received a 7-minute standing ovation from the crowd in the Palais. But it was a controversial choice because of Depp’s continued career rehab following the highly publicized defamation trial between him and ex-wife Amber Heard, but also because of a report against Maïwenn that accused her of assaulting a journalist, an accusation she later admitted to.
The film stars Depp as the French King Louis Xv in a supporting role and primarily follows Maïwenn as Jeanne Vaubernier, an 18th Century French working class woman who became King Louis Xv’s lover. Here’s the full synopsis:
“Jeanne du Barry” follows...
“Jeanne Du Barry” was the opening night film at the Cannes Film Festival last month, where it received a 7-minute standing ovation from the crowd in the Palais. But it was a controversial choice because of Depp’s continued career rehab following the highly publicized defamation trial between him and ex-wife Amber Heard, but also because of a report against Maïwenn that accused her of assaulting a journalist, an accusation she later admitted to.
The film stars Depp as the French King Louis Xv in a supporting role and primarily follows Maïwenn as Jeanne Vaubernier, an 18th Century French working class woman who became King Louis Xv’s lover. Here’s the full synopsis:
“Jeanne du Barry” follows...
- 6/7/2023
- by Brian Welk
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Wild Bunch International (Wbi) has released a fresh image of Johnny Depp as Louis Xv in French director Maïwenn’s ambitious costume drama Jeanne du Barry, in which she also co-stars as the titular courtesan, and unveiled a raft of first theatrical deals.
The historical love story has been acquired for France (Le Pacte), Benelux (Paradiso Filmed Entertainment), Switzerland (Frenetic Films), Italy and Spain (Notorious Pictures), Greece (Spentzos Film), Portugal (Pris Audiovisuais), ex-Yugoslavia (McF), Hungary (Ads Service), Czech Republic (Film New Europe), Romania (Independenta), Poland (Gutek) and Cis (World Vision).
Post-production is currently underway on the film after an 11-week shoot at locations including the Palace of Versailles and other chateaux in the Paris region as well as in the studio.
Why Not Productions (Rust And Bone and A Prophet) lead produces with IN2 and France Télévisions also on board as producers.
The production marks Depp’s first feature film role in three years,...
The historical love story has been acquired for France (Le Pacte), Benelux (Paradiso Filmed Entertainment), Switzerland (Frenetic Films), Italy and Spain (Notorious Pictures), Greece (Spentzos Film), Portugal (Pris Audiovisuais), ex-Yugoslavia (McF), Hungary (Ads Service), Czech Republic (Film New Europe), Romania (Independenta), Poland (Gutek) and Cis (World Vision).
Post-production is currently underway on the film after an 11-week shoot at locations including the Palace of Versailles and other chateaux in the Paris region as well as in the studio.
Why Not Productions (Rust And Bone and A Prophet) lead produces with IN2 and France Télévisions also on board as producers.
The production marks Depp’s first feature film role in three years,...
- 11/1/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: France’s Why Not Productions has unveiled a playful first teaser image of Johnny Depp in the role of King Louis Xv in French director Maïwenn’s historical love story Jeanne du Barry, in which she also co-stars as the titular courtesan. Check it out below.
Rust And Bone and A Prophet production company Why Not has also confirmed that shoot began on July 26 for 11 weeks, with locations including Versailles and other chateaux in the Paris region as well as the studio.
The production marks Depp’s first feature film role in three years, and follows hot on the heels of his victory in his turbulent defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard.
The ambitious drama is freely inspired by the life of Jeanne du Barry, Louis Xv’s last royal mistress at the Court of Versaille, after Madame de Pompadour.
Born into poverty, she is a young working-class woman...
Rust And Bone and A Prophet production company Why Not has also confirmed that shoot began on July 26 for 11 weeks, with locations including Versailles and other chateaux in the Paris region as well as the studio.
The production marks Depp’s first feature film role in three years, and follows hot on the heels of his victory in his turbulent defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard.
The ambitious drama is freely inspired by the life of Jeanne du Barry, Louis Xv’s last royal mistress at the Court of Versaille, after Madame de Pompadour.
Born into poverty, she is a young working-class woman...
- 8/10/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Past winners of the first feature prize include Jim Jarmusch, Mira Nair, Naomi Kawase, Steve McQueen, Houda Benyamina and Lukas Dhont.
The Cannes Film Festival has named French actress Mélanie Thierry as jury president for the 2021 Caméra d’Or award reserved for all first features premiering across Official Selection and the parallel sections of Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week.
”Nothing is as fragile or as miraculous as a first movie. This testifies to the courage and the faith of all the directors who, after such a long period of seclusion, succeeded in providing us with a window on the outside world,...
The Cannes Film Festival has named French actress Mélanie Thierry as jury president for the 2021 Caméra d’Or award reserved for all first features premiering across Official Selection and the parallel sections of Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week.
”Nothing is as fragile or as miraculous as a first movie. This testifies to the courage and the faith of all the directors who, after such a long period of seclusion, succeeded in providing us with a window on the outside world,...
- 6/30/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
This year’s Cannes Classics lineup has been announced, with one screening immediately catching the eye: Alfonso Cuarón presenting the remastered version of “The Shining.” The “Roma” filmmaker will be on hand to introduce Stanley Kubrick’s horror classic, which is in the program alongside “Easy Rider,” three films from Luis Buñuel, Lina Wertmüller’s “Seven Beauties,” two from Milos Forman, and many others.
The full lineup:
The 50 years of the mythical “Easy Rider”
Presented half a century ago on the Croisette, in Competition at the Festival de Cannes, the film won the Prize for a first work. Co-writer, co-producer and lead actor, Peter Fonda will be in Cannes at the invitation of the Festival to celebrate this anniversary.
“Easy Rider” by Dennis Hopper
Restored in 4K by Sony Pictures Entertainment in collaboration with Cineteca di Bologna. Restored from the 35mm Original Picture Negative and 35mm Black and White Separation Masters.
The full lineup:
The 50 years of the mythical “Easy Rider”
Presented half a century ago on the Croisette, in Competition at the Festival de Cannes, the film won the Prize for a first work. Co-writer, co-producer and lead actor, Peter Fonda will be in Cannes at the invitation of the Festival to celebrate this anniversary.
“Easy Rider” by Dennis Hopper
Restored in 4K by Sony Pictures Entertainment in collaboration with Cineteca di Bologna. Restored from the 35mm Original Picture Negative and 35mm Black and White Separation Masters.
- 4/26/2019
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
Paris – French Academy members got serious on Friday with two politically charged dramas heading the major categories for the 35th annual Cesar Awards that will see Jacques Audiard's "A Prophet" go head to head with Philippe Lioret's "Welcome." The nominees were announced Friday at a press conference in Paris.
While no one can foresee the winners, "A Prophet" looks bound to triumph with Jacques Audiard's prison drama nominated for 13 awards including best film, best director and a best actor and most promising male newcomer nod for the film's breakout star Tahar Rahim.
Academy voters also gave a hearty reception to Phillipe Lioret's "Welcome" with 10 nods and Xavier Giannoli's "In the Beginning" with 11 nominations.
Radu Mihaileanu's "The Concert" was also music to voters' ears with the tragicomedy about a washed-up former conductor of the Bolshoi orchestra who travels to Paris to make his career comeback scoring six nominations.
While no one can foresee the winners, "A Prophet" looks bound to triumph with Jacques Audiard's prison drama nominated for 13 awards including best film, best director and a best actor and most promising male newcomer nod for the film's breakout star Tahar Rahim.
Academy voters also gave a hearty reception to Phillipe Lioret's "Welcome" with 10 nods and Xavier Giannoli's "In the Beginning" with 11 nominations.
Radu Mihaileanu's "The Concert" was also music to voters' ears with the tragicomedy about a washed-up former conductor of the Bolshoi orchestra who travels to Paris to make his career comeback scoring six nominations.
- 1/22/2010
- by By Rebecca Leffler
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
BERLIN -- French filmmaker Regis Wargnier (East-West, Indochine) has long displayed a fascination for cultural conflict, but in Man to Man, he comes upon a clash of cultures so vastly different and so fundamentally antithetical that only tragedy can result. Based on the more egregious extremes of both the scientific and entertainment communities of the mid-19th century, Man to Man gives us the dismaying spectacle of Victorian Britain's confrontation with African pygmies.
It's a unique look at a staggering example of human ignorance, exploitation and racism. Unfortunately, in the film's second half, another carry-over from the 19th century -- that of overripe melodrama with hiss-able villains, staunch heroes and midnight skullduggery -- emerges. This saps much of the life out of a truly fascinating subject. This is a not unnatural consequence of an approach by filmmakers who do not trust their audience to "get it" without a lot of Hollywood flourishes.
The film thus falls between the camps of intriguing independent filmmaking and commercially calculated entertainment. So despite a cast that includes Joseph Fiennes and Kristen Scott Thomas, the film will challenge its marketers to find an audience curious about the subject yet willing to forgive melodramatic excess.
An 1870 expedition into unexplored Equatorial Africa by ambitious Scottish scientist Jamie Dodd (Fiennes) and entrepreneurial widow Elena van den Ende (Scott Thomas) captures along with wild animals for European zoos a male and female pygmy (played with much dignity by Lomama Boseki and Cecile Bayiha). Like many scientists of that day, Jamie and his colleagues back home -- the imperious Alexander Auchinleck (Iain Glen) and dogged Fraser McBride (Hugh Bonneville) -- are deluded by the theory that pygmies represent a living "missing link" between man and ape.
The two kidnapped Africans survive a rough ocean voyage to the U.K., where they are thrown into a makeshift Scottish prison and poked and prodded as if they were animal specimens. The arrogant Victorians grant no human connection between themselves and these Africans.
The image of local villagers, alarmed at rumors of "savages" in their midst, surging through woods at night guided by lighted torches, can only remind us of the Frankenstein movies of James Whale, still one of cinema's best evocations of science run amok. It's an apt image, for these are truly "mad" scientists, who in their crude study of these two individuals choose to note or ignore only what falls into line with preconceived racist theories.
Then, of course, our hero, Jamie, breaks from the pack. He no longer is willing to disregard clear clues of the pygmies' human emotions and intelligence. Elena is torn, innately sensing what Jamie does but mindful of her financial interest in the pygmies, whom she wants to display in human zoos all over Europe.
In the nearly silent communication between the scientist and his two subjects, the film finds its heart and soul. The actors have only their faces, their eyes, expressions and gestures with which to communicate across such a great divide.
But the break among the scientists gets treated less as a sharp difference of opinion than an opportunity for Wargnier and his co-writer, William Boyd, to indulge in more kidnappings, a false imprisonment, an assassination attempt and a second murderous mob. Exploitation clearly is as much in fashion now as it was in 1870.
The physical aspects of this French-British-South African production are terrific with all the period details in Africa and Europe in place, strongly backed by Patrick Doyle's robust music and cinematographer Laurent Dailland's muted colors for that gas-lit era.
MAN TO MAN
A Vertigo Prods. production in association with Skyline (Man to Man) Ltd./France 2 Cinema France 3 Cinema/Boreales
Credits:
Director: Regis Wargnier
Screenwriters: William Boyd, Regis Wargnier
Based on a story by: Michel Fessler, Frederic Fougea, Regis Wargnier
Producers: Aissa Djabri, Farid Lahouassa
Director of photography: Laurent Dailland
Production designer: Maria Djurkovic
Music: Patrick Doyle
Costumes: Pierre Yves Gayraud
Editor: Yann Malcor
Cast:
Jamie Dodd: Joseph Fiennes
Elena van den Endee: Kristen Scott Thomas
Alexander Auchinleck: Iain Glen
Fraser McBride: Hugh Bonneville
Toko: Lomama Boseki
Likola: Cecile Bayiha
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 122 minutes...
It's a unique look at a staggering example of human ignorance, exploitation and racism. Unfortunately, in the film's second half, another carry-over from the 19th century -- that of overripe melodrama with hiss-able villains, staunch heroes and midnight skullduggery -- emerges. This saps much of the life out of a truly fascinating subject. This is a not unnatural consequence of an approach by filmmakers who do not trust their audience to "get it" without a lot of Hollywood flourishes.
The film thus falls between the camps of intriguing independent filmmaking and commercially calculated entertainment. So despite a cast that includes Joseph Fiennes and Kristen Scott Thomas, the film will challenge its marketers to find an audience curious about the subject yet willing to forgive melodramatic excess.
An 1870 expedition into unexplored Equatorial Africa by ambitious Scottish scientist Jamie Dodd (Fiennes) and entrepreneurial widow Elena van den Ende (Scott Thomas) captures along with wild animals for European zoos a male and female pygmy (played with much dignity by Lomama Boseki and Cecile Bayiha). Like many scientists of that day, Jamie and his colleagues back home -- the imperious Alexander Auchinleck (Iain Glen) and dogged Fraser McBride (Hugh Bonneville) -- are deluded by the theory that pygmies represent a living "missing link" between man and ape.
The two kidnapped Africans survive a rough ocean voyage to the U.K., where they are thrown into a makeshift Scottish prison and poked and prodded as if they were animal specimens. The arrogant Victorians grant no human connection between themselves and these Africans.
The image of local villagers, alarmed at rumors of "savages" in their midst, surging through woods at night guided by lighted torches, can only remind us of the Frankenstein movies of James Whale, still one of cinema's best evocations of science run amok. It's an apt image, for these are truly "mad" scientists, who in their crude study of these two individuals choose to note or ignore only what falls into line with preconceived racist theories.
Then, of course, our hero, Jamie, breaks from the pack. He no longer is willing to disregard clear clues of the pygmies' human emotions and intelligence. Elena is torn, innately sensing what Jamie does but mindful of her financial interest in the pygmies, whom she wants to display in human zoos all over Europe.
In the nearly silent communication between the scientist and his two subjects, the film finds its heart and soul. The actors have only their faces, their eyes, expressions and gestures with which to communicate across such a great divide.
But the break among the scientists gets treated less as a sharp difference of opinion than an opportunity for Wargnier and his co-writer, William Boyd, to indulge in more kidnappings, a false imprisonment, an assassination attempt and a second murderous mob. Exploitation clearly is as much in fashion now as it was in 1870.
The physical aspects of this French-British-South African production are terrific with all the period details in Africa and Europe in place, strongly backed by Patrick Doyle's robust music and cinematographer Laurent Dailland's muted colors for that gas-lit era.
MAN TO MAN
A Vertigo Prods. production in association with Skyline (Man to Man) Ltd./France 2 Cinema France 3 Cinema/Boreales
Credits:
Director: Regis Wargnier
Screenwriters: William Boyd, Regis Wargnier
Based on a story by: Michel Fessler, Frederic Fougea, Regis Wargnier
Producers: Aissa Djabri, Farid Lahouassa
Director of photography: Laurent Dailland
Production designer: Maria Djurkovic
Music: Patrick Doyle
Costumes: Pierre Yves Gayraud
Editor: Yann Malcor
Cast:
Jamie Dodd: Joseph Fiennes
Elena van den Endee: Kristen Scott Thomas
Alexander Auchinleck: Iain Glen
Fraser McBride: Hugh Bonneville
Toko: Lomama Boseki
Likola: Cecile Bayiha
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 122 minutes...
- 2/10/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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