Jeanne du Barry

Writer/director Maïwenn also stars as Jeanne du Barry, a working-class woman who became the mistress of King Louis XV, played with taciturn command by Johnny Depp in his first French-language speaking role. Shot on location at Versailles, it’s an exuberant and sensitive portrait of class, ambition and both the rewards and risks of living in the public eye.

Pre-Revolution France: Jeanne Bécu (Maïwenn), the illegitimate daughter of a monk, hungers for culture and pleasure and is determined to escape her upbringing. With charm and wit, she builds a reputation as a skilled courtesan and her benefactor, the Comte du Barry (Melvil Poupaud) grows rich through her amorous encounters.

Wishing to present her to the widowed King (Depp), a renowned womaniser, the Comte orchestrates a meeting. For Jeanne and Louis, it’s intoxication at first sight; she is soon anointed his new favourite. Unapologetically ignoring propriety and etiquette, with the help of his valet La Borde (a scenestealing Benjamin Lavernhe), Louis moves her into his Versailles palace, sparking scandal and jeopardising relations with the newly arrived Marie Antoinette…

“Perfectly ‘Maïwennesque’: sometimes clumsy, strong, probably too empathetic with her subject, but the director carries us away and moves us in this celebration of freedom. A beautiful reverence to irreverence.” ~Julien Rousset, Sud Ouest

“A fresco of undeniable beauty, modern and intensely alive.” ~Isabelle Magnier, 7 Day TV (France)