Jeanne du Barry
Vertical Entertainment | Release Date: May 2, 2024 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
48
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
12
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
ObserverRex ReedMay 6, 2024
There’s so much to look at and think about that it is sometimes difficult to concentrate on the story, but a plot does emerge in the capable hands of Maïwenn, who keeps the facts straight while keeping one of the most shocking chapters in French history alive and kicking. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalKyle SmithMay 3, 2024
It’s a finely wrought story of palace intrigue enriched by lush sets and decors, having been shot at Versailles. Read full review
80
The IndependentGeoffrey MacnabMay 17, 2023
Against the odds, Jeanne du Barry has turned out to be a subtle and well-crafted costume drama with plenty of satirical bite. Read full review
70
Vanity FairRichard LawsonMay 17, 2023
The movie is as engaging as it is sinisterly ridiculous. Its costumery is luxe and eye-popping, its courtly intrigue pleasingly low-stakes. The looming Revolution is only mentioned, in somber tones, in voiceover at the very end. Otherwise, Jeanne du Barry wants you to feel the fantasy. Read full review
67
Original-CinKim HughesApr 30, 2024
It’s visually lovely. But there’s a hollowness at the core of Jeanne du Barry, despite the obvious talents of its writer, director and star, the almost absurdly watchable French performer Maïwenn, who approaches this tragic-comic 18th century fact-based story with a sympathetic view towards its protagonist without probing too deeply into anyone’s motivations. Read full review
67
ColliderMarco Vito OddoMay 17, 2023
Jeanne du Barry’s straightforward script might not convince the average moviegoer to spend two hours in the French court. However, fans of period romances will be well-served with a love story that puts a sex worker in the spotlight. And while Maïwenn and Depp are not the steamiest couple in period biopics, Jeanne du Barry is still entertaining enough to be worth your time Read full review
67
IndieWireBen CrollMay 16, 2023
More frustrating than a misfire, “Jeanne du Barry” suffers instead from near total myopia, roaring to life with wit and ingenuity when the constellations align and the lead’s star can shine, and dwindling before the risk of any possible eclipse. The film burns hot and bright — and quickly flames out. Read full review
60
Screen RantBen GibbonsMay 2, 2024
Jeanne du Barry is a beautiful story, but lacks emphasis or innovation, which is essential in a period drama's success. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawMay 16, 2023
It is a preposterous confection of a movie, like one of the rich sweetmeats being languidly nibbled at court, but very moreish, nonetheless. It is handsomely furnished and costumed with blue-chip character actors in the supporting roles and some wonderful locations and interiors at the Palace of Versailles itself. Read full review
60
VarietyPeter DebrugeMay 16, 2023
In attempting to reclaim this woman’s reputation, Maïwenn’s film feels unexpectedly tame — it risks turning a would-be scandal into a royal bore. Read full review
60
Screen DailyLisa NesselsonMay 16, 2023
This is not great or memorable filmmaking but the power of the story and some of the performances make up for that. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMay 1, 2024
It’s hard to know what Maiwenn was trying to accomplish here, besides giving herself a juicy and an entirely sympathetic historically-based role. She achieves that, and she’s good in the film — Maiwenn always is — but the “what’s the point of all this” question takes “Jeanne du Barry” down just a notch. Read full review
50
The Daily BeastNick SchagerApr 29, 2024
[Depp] proves that he remains one of cinema’s most magnetic presences—even if his latest project doesn’t do terribly much with him. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangMay 18, 2023
The movie is a polished, well-made affair (Depp’s smallpox pustules look scarily state-of-the-art) but also a disappointingly juiceless one, with little of the messy go-for-broke filmmaking energy that Maïwenn has brought to better, rougher works like “Polisse.” Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerMay 16, 2023
With all the recent controversy surrounding Depp, not to mention Maïwenn herself, the result of their collaboration is a handsome period piece that feels both flat and shallow, and certainly far from any scandale. Read full review
40
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeApr 21, 2024
It’s a curiously inert affair: constrained, corseted, passionless and saddled with a lumpen, Depp-shaped deadweight where there should be a pulse-racing core of power and desire. Read full review
40
CineVueJohn BleasdaleMay 19, 2023
It is as glitzy and gaudy as the festival itself, with its vacuous politics drowned out by the thunderous sound of it slapping its own back. Read full review
40
BBCNicholas BarberMay 18, 2023
The combination of Depp and Maïwenn may have seemed like a dangerous one, but on this occasion they're playing it safe. Read full review
40
The TelegraphRobbie CollinMay 16, 2023
It’s mostly handsomely shot, with painterly vistas of the French countryside and lots of dazzling Versailles interiors. But the central relationship never convinces – it all just feels like a performance, put on for the benefit of the courtiers and by extension, us. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyMay 3, 2024
Jeanne du Barry cares more about the love affair between two non-distinct people wearing exquisite clothes in stunning rooms than the reality that would sweep away those rooms, those clothes, and those people in just a few years' time. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineJake ColeApr 28, 2024
Like the real Countess du Barry, it’s eventually caught up in the very pomp and splendor that it initially lampoons. Read full review
30
The New York TimesGlenn KennyMay 2, 2024
Since Maïwenn created Jeanne for herself, it may seem paradoxical to state that she’s all wrong for it. Nevertheless, her broad performance is a consistently unfortunate case study in “whatever she thinks she’s doing, this isn’t it.” Read full review
16
The PlaylistRafaela Sales RossMay 17, 2023
If it wasn’t for the highly-publicized scandals that envelop “Jeanne du Barry,” it is likely the film would make a swift turn from the red carpet into ostracism, and while the hubbub certainly delays the process, it will do little to prevent Maïwenn’s dire latest from the merciless hands of oblivion. Read full review
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