‘These are the movies that don’t get made anymore’: Jean du Barry’s actors return to make this event film

The 76th Cannes Film Festival was opened by Jeanne du Barry, Maven’s sixth feature film. The director himself plays the main role. He is surrounded by French actors – Benjamin Laverne, Melville Pupa, Pierre Richard or even Indian Hair – and the exception, Johnny Depp, in the clothes of King Louis XV, who chooses the Countess as his favorite.

On the grounds of the Palace of Versailles, where the film was shot in the summer of 2022, AlloCiné went to meet Benjamin Laverne and Melville Pupo. The first personifies the hairdresser of the sovereign, Jean-Benjamin de la Borde, the second explains the tale of Jean du Barry, who presents his wife to the king.

AlloCiné: Maïwenn is known for her very free and instinctive approach. A film like Jeanne du Barry leaves no room for improvisation. How do you feel about his work with this large-scale film?

Benjamin Laverne: At first I was a little destabilized because I said to myself: “I’m going to work with Maïwenn, we’re going to do 30, 40 minute improvisations, it’s going to be an experienceAnd the first thing he said to me was:I really want to respect the dialogues that are being written this time.” And I was like, “Well, it’s not the same project at all..” We accompanied him on this crazy adventure.

Despite the limitations of the so-called classical cinema, in the noble sense of the term, he voiced his freedom and his sensitivity, which is very instinctive. When he led us, we couldn’t help but interrupt when the first rule was not to.

It was very itchy. He finds the truth in the accident, in our destabilization. It must be broken, even if it means rebuilding and finding the dialogues written afterwards. We had the impression of accompanying him during his baptism in this new form of cinema.

Melville Pupo: On the set I saw someone who, despite the budget and scale of the project, which is still quite unusual for France, said to himself:We are going to change the device. We will try to improvise.“I saw a person who was not necessarily frozen in this stricture, but on the contrary, within this rather framed project, wanted to find his tone and find the truth of his characters.

He wanted to make a film that talked about life, about feelings in all their complexity, about characters that could be both odious but at the same time attractive.

The film refers to the period, the eighties or nineties, when historical films were legion. Is it gratifying for actors like you to be part of a project that is less and less available to the cinema?

Benjamin Laverne: It’s nice to be a part of the legacy of film history and to be a part of it, he told himself: “We played in a great period movie in costume.“These are films that will no longer be made. This is a huge manufacturer’s risk taking. It is grand.

It feels like a thing of the past. And then, suddenly, no, he comes back and we have a chance to do that at Versailles. We are inhabited by the ghosts of that place. With Melville we used to say to ourselves: “Damn, it’s still crazy.”

On the first day we go to the Hall of Mirrors, we’re all in costumes, the sun is setting, and there’s Pierre Richard, Johnny Depp, Maven, and with Melville we said to ourselves:is this real“We even started talking in English (laughs).

The film is interesting in that it combines fairly modern French with very classic, period French. How did you meet the director’s co-written text?

Benjamin Laverne: Maven was very quick to ask herself these questions about language. He told me, “I want actors who are immediately believable in that era. So he was surrounded by a lot of theater actors. Micah Lescott, Pascal Gregory, Noemi Lvovsky. There’s a whole gang, me in this business. And it’s a delicate balance. It should not be too modern.

Melville Pupo: He maintained a kind of distance between the reconstruction of the story and the modern version, both in costumes, dialogues and historical facts. This is not a documentary made by a historian. It is Maven who is the author and who has taken liberties. That’s what I think is great. It’s a free movie.

Johnny Depp plays his first leading role in a French film here. What drew your attention to his method of working?

Benjamin Laverne: When talking to him, he is quite generous with anecdotes and passionate about his work. He talks about his past experiences quite easily. Even loving Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Louis de Funes. And at the same time, he told me that in Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands, Edward’s character was much more talkative in the beginning and they had to cut a lot. He really likes it, playing with his face.

We see that he’s got two clown balls, we made his mouth, and suddenly he’s Edward Scissorhands. And then, with fatigue, with old hair, she looked like an old woman. Then, with a snap of a finger, he can become some kind of handsome guy again. It has incredible image magic. It interests him, he uses it. He doesn’t need to say many words to be understood. Even the scene where he doesn’t say anything. He comes and imposes his authority.

Melville Pupo: For me, this is one of his best roles. At least for a long time. He’s almost naked, the way Maven once photographed him. Beyond the king, we also see a man, we see Johnny Depp, we see a man who is generally a bit broken and also occasionally funny.

It looks like a document of a 60-year-old actor. The film is also very beautiful because it documents this moment in his life. We feel that he knows this and opens up. We see how she wakes up, dressed, made up, not combing her hair, sick, suffering. And for that alone, the film is precious.

Interview by Thomas Desroches at the Palace of Versailles, 8 May 2023.

Jeanne du Barry by Maïwenn, in theaters from May 16.