The pageant chooses a divisive opener: a Johnny Depp movie.

For its opening movie, the Cannes organizers have opted for each star energy and potential controversy with “Jeanne du Barry,” a French costume drama that’s Johnny Depp’s first main movie since profitable a bitter defamation trial final yr.

Directed by and starring Maïwenn, the movie facilities on a younger lady as she climbs from humble origins to change into Madame du Barry, the favourite of King Louis XV of France, who Depp performs in a white wig and powdered face.

The trial between Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard riveted the world final yr because the actress aired allegations of bodily and sexual abuse. Depp denied the claims, asserting that she was the true aggressor within the relationship. (A choose in Britain had dominated in an earlier case that there was proof that Depp had assaulted Heard.)

The jury in Virginia largely sided with Depp, discovering that Heard had defamed him when she described herself in a 2018 op-ed in The Washington Post as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.” Heard initially appealed the decision, however then introduced final yr that she supposed to settle the dispute.

The announcement final month that “Jeanne du Barry” could be screening after the Cannes opening ceremony sparked division on-line, with some criticizing the pageant organizers (the hashtag #CannesYouNot circulated together with the news), whereas Depp’s devoted fan base celebrated it as an indication of the actor’s comeback.

The pageant’s director, Thierry Frémaux, mentioned in an interview with Variety final month that he didn’t view the movie as a divisive alternative. “We only know one thing, it’s the justice system and I think he won the legal case,” he mentioned within the interview. “But the movie isn’t about Johnny Depp.”

In a news convention on Monday, Frémaux mentioned he had no real interest in the defamation trial, noting, “I care about Johnny Depp as an actor,” in response to The Hollywood Reporter.

On Tuesday, the French newspaper Libération printed an open letter, signed by greater than 100 actors, that accused the pageant, and the broader movie business, of not correctly shutting folks accused of assault and abuse out of the occasion. Depp was not talked about by title.

“Obviously, it does not come from nowhere that people who abuse, harass and violate are offered a place on the red carpet of this festival,” the letter reads. “It is a symptom of a global system.”

While the films which have most outlined Depp’s profession contain eccentric leads who dominate the movie (together with Sweeney Todd and Willy Wonka), in “Jeanne du Barry” he takes a secondary function to Maïwenn, whose movie “Polisse” gained the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2011. Depp appeared on the pageant that very same yr within the fourth “Pirates of the Caribbean” film.

During the trial, legal professionals for Depp argued that Heard’s op-ed in The Washington Post had destroyed the actor’s movie profession, saying that after it was printed, he was not in a position to guide a studio movie. Heard’s facet countered that his sample of unhealthy publicity and conduct on units was at fault for any downturn in his profession.

After the trial, Depp rapidly re-entered the general public sphere, enjoying concert events with Jeff Beck in Europe and showing in a vogue present backed by Rihanna. But that is his first main return to the movie business.

“Jeanne du Barry” will definitely have vital publicity in France, the place it opens in theaters on Tuesday and can later seem there on Netflix.

No plans have been introduced for distribution within the United States.