Global Courant 2023-05-17 15:35:45
Where’s Johnny?
In a normal year at the Cannes Film Festival, the premiere of a warmly received French period drama would be followed by a decidedly understated press conference, with the director and stars patiently lined up to discuss the work’s creation for the international media. But that’s not how it goes down when the film happens to star Johnny Depp, one of the world’s biggest celebrities in the midst of an attempted career reboot following several years of damaging and divisive scandal.
On the first full day of screenings Wednesday at the world’s most prestigious film festival, the hottest ticket in town was nevertheless the press conference for the previous night’s opening film, Jeanne du Barry, starring Depp as King Louis XV and the director Maïwenn as his favored Mistress. But as the film’s director and cast walked into the hall for the press conference, a deflating feeling swept through the room as Depp was conspicuously absent.
The event’s moderator, Cannes regular Didier Allouch, assured the audience that Depp would arrive late. The actor was also missing from the photo call that preceded the press conference. Prior to the proceedings Allouch repeatedly gave an atypical warning to the crowd to stay in their seats and not to approach the stage — apparently an added security precaution for Deep (typically press throng the front of the room to take photos as the actors enter). The actor finally strode into the room to applaud some 45 minutes after the event had begun.
Cannes marks Depp’s first starring performance after years of legal wrangling and a messy divorce with ex-wife Amber Heard, which included allegations of domestic violence and two high-profile defamation lawsuits. None of that mattered Tuesday night on the Côte d’Azur, however, where Depp was greeted by throngs of super-fans along the red carpet — and later received a seven-minute standing ovation from the Cannes glitteratti as the credits rolled on Jeanne du Barry’s first screening (critics’ reviews for the film were more muted, though).
In Jeanne du Barry, Maïwenn plays herself as the title character alongside Depp, Benjamin Lavernhe, Melvil Poupaud, Pierre Richard, Pascal Greggory and India Hair. The movie’s story follows Jeanne Vaubernier, a young working-class woman hungry for culture and pleasure, who uses her intelligence and allure to relentlessly climb the rungs of the time’s social ladder. She becomes the favorite of King Louis XV (Depp) who, unaware of her status as a courtesan, regains through her his appetite for life. They fall madly in love, and against all propriety and etiquette, Jeanne moves to Versailles, where her arrival scandalizes the court.
The film was released in French cinemas simultaneously with its Cannes bow. Outside cinemas in Cannes and across France on opening night, French feminists handed out flyers containing a lengthy letter recounting the allegations against Depp and the legal tug-of-war with Heard, along with a call upon the film industry to shed patriarchal power dynamics.
Despite the surrounding controversy, reactions to the film itself have been rather muted. The Hollywood Reporter’s critic described the film as “sumptuously made” and filled with “jaw-dropping costumes” — but “also, well, kind of bland.”
