In its usual dramatic fashion, the Cannes Film Festival set the tone on Tuesday night with an honorary award for Michael Douglas. The spectators were then treated to a trip to the Chateau de Versailles for the opening film "Jeanne du Barry", by actress and director Maïwenn who is living proof that fairytales really can come true.
Cannes is a place where dreams are made. A gathering place for celebrities, aspiring actors, technicians, directors and their fans. Careers are launched, reputations made or unmade, and lucky encounters occur. The world of cinema promises a glamourous life both on and off screen.
But it is not an easy path, as French director Maïwenn Le Besco (who only goes by her first name) will tell you.
Maïwenn explores the theme of rags to riches in her film "Jeanne du Barry", playing the lead role opposite Johnny Depp as King Louis XV.
It’s her sixth feature, and her fifth time to be screened at the Cannes festival since 2011. Her film "Polisse" won the Jury Prize in 2011.
"So many things inspired me about Jeanne’s story like the fact she came from a humble, working class background. There’s definitely a fairytale aspect to her story," Maïwenn told RFI ahead of the screening.
"I could see that she was the 'Pretty Woman' of the 18th century. In a way it’s a portrait of my own life, that’s why I wanted to play her," she says, adding that the story had been on her radar for the past 15 years.
"I recognise myself in her personality and her experiences. Her curiosity for culture, her thirst for life and not wanting to be tamed and sophisticated".
Wit and charm
Born Jeanne Vaubernier, daughter of a household cook, she understands quickly that with charm and wit, she can take her destiny into her own hands and gain financial freedom. She becomes a courtesan to the King, a role that is not without its own personal cost.
"I wanted the film to feel like a story, I nearly started the narration with 'once upon a time'. In fairytales, there are the good and evil characters, and there’s lots of jealousy," she explains, underlining the parallel with her own experience.
"Versailles could be a metaphor for the world of cinema, an industry that for a long time was condescending to me," she says.
"When I started, people would tell me that’s not the way things were done," rather like Jeanne who is constantly scrutinized and detested by the royal entourage. At each turn, she is confronted by a paradox – the choice to remain her own boss and wanting to be accepted and loved by the court.
Just like Jeanne, Maïwenn says she learnt to impose her vision and way of doing things and people gradually began to warm to her unconventional ideas.
Gamble pays off
It was for example a gamble on her part to chose an American to play a French king. She told journalists that she asked French actors but they were busy or not interested. Her dream was to the ask Johnny Depp. She gave it a shot and he said yes. You never know until you try so they say.
Depp does remarkably well speaking French without coming across as corny. Admittedly, he doesn’t have tons of dialogue, but what he says is done with simple effectiveness. It is stately, refined, fit for a king. Depp’s natural charisma accompanied by his stormy eyes and his subtle mocking expressions do the rest.
He is also surrounded by an excellent cast, notably Benjamin Lavernhe as close royal aide La Borde and Pierre Richard as the Duke de Richelieu.
It is a modern twist to a chapter in history and Maïwenn says she deliberately used contemporary dialogues rather than try to stay in keeping with style of the day. This works to her advantage as it allows for comic interludes and 'quiproquo'. She worked with historians to get the details right but never tried to conform to a scholarly rendition of the era.
"A filmmaker needs to be free to express the story through their own eyes," she says.
Emotional speeches
All in all, the opening soirée lived up to its star-studded reputation, with a good dose of red carpet photos, a touch of dolce vita with a song performed in Italian by hostess Chiara Mastroianni and a moving performance by The Gabriels and "Stand by Me".
Michael Douglas was warmly received on stage by Uma Thurman to accept an honorary award for his career. He humbly pointed out a few highlights of his own story and got a few laughs when he admitted to being surprised that he’d made it so far. "I'm older than the festival" he quipped.
He finished his speech by thanking France, in a historical as well as cinematic sense. "Je vous embrasse, avec tout mon coeur".
Mastroianni then introduced her mother, actress Catherine Deneuve, the face of this year’s Cannes poster, who paid homage to Ukraine emotionally quoting the poet Lessia Oukraïnka.
It was the only reference made to Ukraine so far in the lead-up to the festival, in stark contrast to last year when President Volodymr Zelensky made an impassioned speech during the ceremony and numerous homages were made to Ukrainian cinema.
