I’ve wanted to watch the 1954 film Madame du Barry for years, but had a hard time tracking it down. I finally found it (hot tip: do some Google video searching for it if you’re interested, although note it’s only in original French or dubbed Italian or Russian, and none with subtitles) and while my French wasn’t QUITE up to snuff to catch ALL of the dialogue (especially when people got angry and started talking fast), I managed to catch about 50%, and I enjoyed the sometimes pretty, frequently way-too-1950s costumes (designed by Marcel Escoffier – Princess of Cleves, Mayerling, Loves of Casanova, Lucrèce Borgia – and Monique Plotin – L’Affaire des Poisons), so here we are!
The film stars Martine Carol (Austerlitz, Lucrèce Borgia, Lola Montès) as the titular Jeanne Bécu, Comtesse du Barry (1743-93), who starts as a shopgirl in a milliner’s shop, gets recruited by a madam and a nobleman simultaneously, who conspire to put her in the way of the bored King Louis XV who is searching for a mistress. Louis and she take shines to each other, she becomes his official mistress (to the horror of the court), until his death when she is booted from the palace. The entire thing is framed with the French Revolution, noting that she will be guillotined, although it doesn’t at all dwell on that fact. The tone is slightly comic, the costumes are candy colored, and the hair shiny. Let’s do this!
King Louis XV is bored –his mistresses are dead, his wife is dead. Some rando courtier lady shows up in his bed to shag him, and he isn’t interested and throws her out. None of this is interesting enough to screencap.
A madam wearing a fabulously stripey dress goes to the milliner’s shop and spots Jeanne in her own stripey dress and tries to recruit her. So does Jean du Barry, a courtier. I can’t follow all the dialogue, but it’s unclear whether du Barry wants to shag her himself or if he’s already thinking of her for the king.
The madam gussies Jeanne up in a shiny satin dress, while Jeanne is doubtful but spunky.
Jeanne has been installed as the mistress? of Jean du Barry, complete with portrait hanging on the wall:
Jean du Barry is pissed because he finds Jeanne flirting with an actor, I’m unclear if he’s pissed on his own behalf or because he Has Plans for her.
Mr. du Barry throws some kind of dinner with Jeanne and a couple of male courtiers. It appears they are discussing putting Jeanne in the king’s way. Jeanne is very rough-table-manners-in-a-charming-way and at some point gets pissed (I think about the whole king thing?) and leaves, locking the men in the room.
As Jeanne is taking off, she runs into some guy in the hall. They start flirting and wandering through Versailles, and she finally realizes that it’s The King. He’s charmed by her straightforward ways, she’s charmed by him. He installs her as his mistress.
The female courtiers are PISSED that Louis is shagging a former shopgirl, none more so than the female courtier (the “Duchesse de Grammont”) who had tried to sneak into his bed.
In order to secure her place at court, Jeanne has to be presented; in order to be presented, she has to be married, which she isn’t. Mr. du Barry is already married, so he runs off to the country and picks up his country bumpkin brother, the Comte du Barry, as well as his two bumpkin sisters to be ladies-in-waiting.
He manages to clean them all up, and Jeanne marries Bumpkin Brother — becoming the Comtesse du Barry — who is promptly dismissed.
Jeanne and the king are having fun, although there’s been some kind of party? row? in which the king’s bedroom is all smashed up. Jeanne is cranky, I’m unclear why — probably because no one accepts her at court.
Someone lets the king’s four daughters in on the whole shopgirl-mistress thing, and they are peeved.
Mr. du Barry’s sisters are fancied up as Jeanne’s ladies-in-waiting.
Mr. du Barry starts arranging for Jeanne to be presented, which involves him and others on his team sucking up to various female courtiers, promising them positions and benefits for themselves and their families.
An elderly courtier is enlisted to sponsor? chaperone? escort? guide? Jeanne through the presentation process.
The Duchesse de Grammont is PISSED when she finds out.
Jeanne practices for her presentation.
The king’s daughters continue to be pissed, and align with the Duchesse de Grammont, but the king tells them to STFU.
It’s presentation night!
Jeanne is late! Bitches are excited! The king is stressed!
Jeanne shows up at the last moment, and looks lovely, and executes her curtsy flawlessly!
The bitchy daughters and the Duchesse de Grammont enlist the newly arrived dauphine, Marie-Antoinette, to help slight du Barry. Marie-Antoinette is nicely played by Isabelle Pia — she’s a little bit snooty, but she’s no ditz.
The sisters/Duchesse enlist the abbot/cardinal/whoever to preach against du Barry and the king’s sinful ways. The king is pissed, but du Barry is hilarious — her reaction is very “ok, well, yeah…”
The king is pissed, and orders Marie-Antoinette to acknowledge du Barry by speaking with her publicly. Everyone is on pins and needles to see if she’ll do it.
“There are a lot of people at Versailles today,” says Marie-Antoinette. Du Barry wins!
The king dies! All the courtiers stampede to the new king and queen’s rooms, while du Barry walks out of the palace, the only one touched by the king’s death.
Have you seen the 1954 Madame du Barry? Can you enjoy pastel 1950s-ized costumes, or am I the only one?
Sleeping Beauty, the World’s Oldest Waxwork https://images.app.goo.gl/o18adB1sp2oi3MnN7 Images may be subject to copyright
I don’t know if you have ever seen this at Madame Tussauds in London, Kendra. It is Madame Du Barry modelled from life in 1768. I don’t know if the dress is reconstructed or original but this has always fascinated me.
Wow, that’s super cool! The dress looks to be in too good of condition to be original, if nothing else.
She really is pretty cute, and had a reputation for being kind and good-natured. But OMFG, the FLOOF! I would have just adored those dresses when I was a little girl–pure Disney, only you could do what my mother called “waving her bosom” in them.
Actually it”s a complete myth, and quite a recent one, that “The Sleeping Beauty” was modelled from, or even was supposed to represent, Madame du Barry. From the earliest years of the emigre Mme Tussaud’s exhibits in London until at least the 1930s, this figure was shown as ‘Mme de Sainte Amaranthe, widow of a colonel in the Kings bodyguard, who virtuously refused the advances of Robespierre and was sent to the guillotine in revenge’. This was not only blatantly anti-Jacobin propaganda but also a just-pain-garbled story – Mme de Sainte Amaranthe (who, by the way, was a rackety type who ran a posh gambling club) wasn’t guillotined, but her beautiful daughter, the Marquise de Sartine, was. The mould from which this waxwork was cast (this is certainly not the original wax) may indeed be of her.
My guess is that the figure was re-identified in response to increasing popular interest in du Barry in the cinema; a string of movies were made about her from 1915 onwards, starring famous names such as Theda Bara and Pola Negri.
Jeanne seems to have been a good natured girl with a soft heart, no doubt a refreshing change from hard as nails court ladies.
She was guillotined in 1793. She was neither brave nor dignified, crying and struggling. The crowd was said to have been deeply upset by her execution possibly because they could identify with her in a way they could not with other victims.
The haughty aristocracy were appalled by her behaviour but the crowd were stunned into silence by it and it has been said that if more people had behaved like poor Jeanne, the Terror would have ended far earlier.
Her obvious terror made her real to the onlookers, imo. A person not unlike themselves in terrible distress. No wonder they were upset.
Have you seen the silent Mme du Barry?
Not yet!
The bodice silhouette of the supposed robe de cours is atrocious.The lack of the train in informal occasions is fine,but the court events especially with the king would have called for a train on those gowns.After all,it was created as a court uniform.Those sleeves on the robe de cour might be accurate though,as certain paintings(albeit a minority)do feature flaring cuffs.I have seen lace cuffs towards the elbow on simple sleeves in robe de cour-esque dresses worn by young girls,but perhaps the very early time period of those paintings does not match the time period in which this film takes place nor the era that the costume designer went for.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/15481192454520846/
That hairstyle on the blue court dress might be referencing the sort of low in the front,wavy ringlets in the back sort of updo,except those ringlets start almost at the nape.I think that the Russian court portraits before 1760s show this hairstyle style much more often.Marie Leszczyńska sports a similar hairstyle in many of her portraits,but the back is never seen to reveal the styling details.
Those 1740’s-50’s hairstyles are inappropriate to the time period,but they do look gorgeous.The actreses almost look like Dresden Figurines in them(the towering 1770’s hairstyles and the hedgehog of the 1780’s look a bit too fussy to me).
The bodice silhouette of the supposed robe de cours is atrocious.The lack of the train in informal occasions is fine,but the court events especially with the king would have called for a train on those gowns.After all,it was created as a court uniform.Those sleeves on the robe de cour might be accurate though,as certain paintings(albeit a minority)do feature flaring cuffs.I have seen lace cuffs towards the elbow on simple sleeves in robe de cour-esque dresses worn by young girls,but perhaps the very early time period of those paintings does not match the time period in which this film takes place nor the era that the costume designer went for.
That hairstyle on the blue court dress might be referencing the sort of low in the front,wavy ringlets in the back sort of updo,except those ringlets start almost at the nape.I think that the Russian court portraits before 1760s show this hairstyle style much more often.Marie Leszczyńska sports a similar hairstyle in many of her portraits,but the back is never seen to reveal the styling details.
Those 1740’s-50’s hairstyles are inappropriate to the time period,but they do look gorgeous.The actreses almost look like Dresden Figurines in them(the towering 1770’s hairstyles and the hedgehog of the 1780’s look a bit too fussy to me).
Goodness. After all that sweetness and sugar, I am fairly certain I now have a cavity.
Note: Be sure to indicate the correct Louis — you have the XVI in one screen descriptor (which was M-A’s hubby) and not the XV (M-A’s father-in-law).
Yep, sorry, I should have clarified – that’s dauphin Louis, before he became Louis XVI!
Understood! Lol 🌷
It’s obvious, that the filmmakers didn’t really had the historical background in their mind.
The men’s coats etc. are as typical for the period to short (more like Prussian uniforms then proper French court dress). However what surprised me was to see Louis XV with his small sword worn in the authentic way (you find the sword often in swordbelts worn OVER the waistcoats or even the sword’s handle cut through the waistcoat (Sachsens Glanz und Preußens Gloria)).
I would try to see the movie at least for realizing what they did wrong, as the life of Madame du Barry is very well known in detail.
Here is a link to watch the 1934 movie on Mme du Barry with Dolores del Rio
https://ok.ru/video/1824514968120
I believe it was on your list!
The engraving(?) of a young Du Barry…. MUST be played by Maisie Williams in some movie that needs to get made.
“Mr. du Barry throws some kind of dinner with Jeanne and a couple of male courtiers. It appears they are discussing putting Jeanne in the king’s way. Jeanne is very rough-table-manners-in-a-charming-way and at some point gets pissed (I think about the whole king thing?) and leaves, locking the men in the room.”
This para had me imagining a RADICALLY different scenario from what you meant to convey, because on this side of the Pond “get pissed” means “get drunk”!
FYI, over here, if you want to say that a someone has got annoyed, they are “pissed off”, never just “pissed”. Although one can, of course, be both at the same time.