Annual Top Films Lists

Top 200 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2023: #149. Maïwenn’s Jeanne du Barry

Published on January 10, 2023

Jeanne du Barry

Set to be a distracting world premiere unveiling due to on-set difficulties, Maïwenn directs herself, Johnny Depp, Louis Garrel, Pierre Richard, Noémie Lvovsky, Benjamin Lavernhe, Melvil Poupaud, Pascal Greggory and India Hair in a historical biopic on Jeanne du Barry and Louis XV. Maïwenn enjoys working with lots of moving parts – ensembles that touch upon many points — it’s no different here with what is now her sixth feature which at one time was called La Favorite. 2011’s Polisse is her best film to date having won the Jury Prize in Cannes, and she has since been invited back to the fest for 2015’s Mon Roi and the Cannes Label 2020 edition with DNA. Jeanne du Barry is produced by Why Not Productions’ Pascal Caucheteux and Gregoire Sorlat and will be handled by Netflix. Filmmaker Teddy Lussi-Modeste (who appears on our list at the #159 spot with Pas de vague) co-wrote the project with Maïwenn.

Gist: Jeanne is a young working-class woman hungry for culture and pleasure, who uses her intelligence and allure to climb the rungs of the social ladder one by one. She becomes the favourite of King Louis XV who, unaware of her status as a courtesan, regains through her his appetite for life. They fall madly in love.

Release Date/Prediction: A Cannes out of competition slot is what everyone might be hoping for.

Eric Lavallée

Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).