Cannes Film Festival: Who Was the Real Jeanne du Barry?
Celebrating the preview of Maïwenn and Johnny Depp’s signature film tonight at the Cannes Film Festival, Jeanne du Barrya look back at the life full of historical highlights of King Louis XVI.
Jeanne has many nicknames: Madame du Barry, Mademoiselle Lange, Jeanne de Vaubernier, Jeanne Bécu… But behind all these pseudonyms, the young woman remains above all a woman of incredible beauty who knew how to find the grace of many important men. , including the King of France, Louis XVI.
A native of the town of Vaucouleurs, Jeanne du Barry owes her notoriety and her place in high society to the elegance of her features and the intelligence of her discussions. Its extraordinary beauty has inspired many post-mortem artists, poets, painters, and directors. But above all the French nobles of the time were fascinated by the many charms. It is known that in her short life she had many lovers who helped her greatly in learning court manners so that she could establish her place in the mundane world. Among them her husband Guillaume du Barry, who gave her the title of countess by marriage. She was also the mistress of her husband’s brother, the Earl of Barry-Cérès, the Marshal-Duke of Richelieu, the Duke of Brissac, by Lord Seymour…
But the most famous of his liaisons and that with the King of France. Jeanne du Barry was indeed the mistress of the crown at Versailles and the ruler’s favorite and remained so until his death. Since the countess is the king’s favorite mistress, she draws the wrath of jealousy from all noble ladies, but above all from the queen herself, Marie-Antoinette of Austria. This hostility of the Dauphine towards the beautiful Jeanne du Barry even caused the political crisis between Austria and France, despite all attempts at reconciliation.
When the king died in 1774, it was taken over by the new ruler, Louis XV. expelled from the court and sentenced to exile at the Château de Louveciennes. There she meets the Duke of Brissac, with whom she lives a crazy love story. Fifteen years later, the French Revolution is in full swing and the Countess du Barry, committed to the necessary French reforms and nurturing loving relationships with émigrés from all walks of life, is forgotten until her castle is broken into. .
The trial that followed during the time of the Great Terror made her a suspect for crossing the English Channel. At the end of this unjustly hastened trial, she was accused of opposing the revolution and locked up in Sainte-Pélagie prison in 1793. This prison will be her last home as she is guillotined in a public square on December 9th of the same year, then only 50 years old…
