Cannes director defends opening festival with Johnny Depp film
Jeanne du Barry marks the American star’s acting comeback after a three-year hiatus following his high-profile legal battle with ex-wife Amber Heard.
Cannes Film Festival director Thierry Fremaux has staunchly defended the decision to open the festival with Johnny Depp’s latest film,Jeanne du Barry.
The French-language costume drama, which is directed by and stars French filmmaker Maiwenn, marks Depp’s first major film since winning a highly publicised defamation trial last year.
In the trial, a jury found that Depp’s ex-wife, actor Amber Heard, had defamed him in a 2018 op-ed in The Washington Post by describing herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” Over the course of six weeks of live-streamed testimony, Depp and Heard clashed in court over her allegations of physical and sexual abuse.
Jeanne du Barry centres around the scandalous relationship between French King Louis XV (Depp) and his working-class lover, Jeanne du Barry (Maiwenn), who he brought to live with him at the Versailles Palace. The film was shot in 2022, shortly after Depp’s defamation trial.
Cannes director Thierry Fremaux maintains that opening the festival with the film was not a “controversial” decision, as Depp has not been banned from working.
“We only know one thing, it’s the justice system, and I think he won the legal case,” he remarked in an interview with Variety. “But the movie isn’t about Johnny Depp.”
Maiwenn has previously won the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2011 for her film Polisse. This year‘s Cannes Film Festival will also feature competing films from prominent directors such as Wes Anderson, Todd Haynes, Jonathan Glazer, and Ken Loach. Previous winners Wim Wenders, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, and Nanni Moretti will also be in the running for the festival‘s top prize.
The festival organisers announced during press conference on Thursday that they have broken their record by presenting six films from female directors in competition, including new projects from Catherine Breillat, Alice Rohrwacher, and Jessica Hausner.
Martin Scorsese’s much-awaited epic, Killers of the Flower Moon, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio and tells the story of the murder of Osage Indians in 1920s Oklahoma, will premiere out of competition. Fremaux said the festival had lobbied for the film to compete for its top prize, but Scorsese turned it down.
The 76th annual Cannes Film Festival will take place from May 16 to 27, 2023.
Cannes 2023 official selection: the full list
Competition
Club Zero, director: Jessica Hausner
The Zone of Interest, director: Jonathan Glazer
Fallen Leaves, director: Aki Kaurismäki
Four Daughters, director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Asteroid City, director: Wes Anderson
Anatomie d’Une Chute, director: Justine Triet
Monster, director: Hirokazu Kore-eda
Il Sol dell’Avvenire, director: Nanni Moretti
La Chimera, director: Alice Rohrwacher
L’Eté Dernier, director: Catherine Breillat
La Passion De Dodin Bouffant, director: Tran Anh Hung
About Dry Grasses, director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
May December, director: Todd Haynes
Rapito, director: Marco Bellocchio
Firebrand, director: Karim Ainouz
The Old Oak, director: Ken Loach
Banel et Adama, director: Ramata-Toulaye Sy
Perfect Days, director: Wim Wenders
Jeunesse, director: Wang Bing
Out of competition
Killers of the Flower Moon, director: Martin Scorsese
Jeanne du Barry, director: Maïwenn
The Idol, director: Sam Levinson
Cobweb, director: Kim Jee-woon
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, director: James Mangold
Midnight screenings
Omar La Fraise, director: Elias Belkeddar
Acide, director: Just Philippot
Kennedy, director: Anurag Kashyap
Cannes premiere
Le Temps d’Aimer, director: Katell Quillevere
Kubi, director: Takeshi Kitano
Cerrar los Ojos, director: Victor Erice
Bonnar, Pierre et Marthe, director: Martin Provost
Special screenings
Anselm, director: Wim Wenders
Occupied City, director: Steve McQueen
Man in Black, director: Wang Bing
Un Certain Regard
How to Have Sex, director: Molly Manning Walker
The Delinquents, director: Rodrigo Moreno
Simple Comme Sylvain, director: Monia Chokri
The Settlers, director: Felipe Galvez
The Mother of All Lies, director: Asmae El Moodier
The Buriti Flower, director: Joao Salaviza & Renee Nader
Goodbye Julia, director: Mohammed Kordofani
Omen, director: Baloji Thasiani
The Breaking Ice, director: Anthony Chen
Rosalie, director: Stéphanie Di Giusto
The New Boy, director: Warwick Thornton
If Only I Could Hibernate, director: Zoljargal Purevdash
Hopeless, director: Kim Chang-hoon
Rien à Perdre, director: Delphine Deloget
Les Meutes, director: Kamal Lazraq
Terrestrial Verses, director: Ali Asgari & Alireza Khatami
La Regne Animal, director: Thomas Cailley
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