Maïwenn remembers her relationship with Luc Besson, 17 years her senior

In a magazine interview Harper’s Bazaar for the promotion of her new film, Maïwenn looks back on her love affair with Luc Besson, whom she married at the age of 16.

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Next Tuesday, May 16, the film will be released Jeanne du Barry carried out by Maiwenn. This film retraces the life of the Countess who was guillotined in 1793 at the age of 50. This role is played by Maïwenn herself alongside Johnny Depp in the role of Louis XV. This film will be screened at the opening of the 76th Cannes Film Festival which runs until Saturday May 27, 2023.

Common points between Maïwenn and Jeanne du Barry

On the occasion of the promotion of her new film, Maïwenn gave an interview to the magazine Harper’s Bazaar this Thursday, April 27. She mentioned the common points between Jeanne du Barry and herself: “A lot of things bind me to her. She left school at 15, like me. She was very curious, with an unquenchable thirst for learning, like me. She needed to be admired, to be accept… For all these reasons, I feel close to her.”

“I was with a man who had power in the cinema”

During this interview, Maïwenn also returned to her relationship with Luc Besson, the historical director of the films The big BlueLeon, Nikita Or The fifth Element. The two exes met when she was 15. He was 32. They married in 1992 before separating in 1996 when the director and Milla Jovovich got married. “When I was younger, I was with a man who had power in the cinema. I remember like it was yesterday the weight of the looks on me, the silences that spoke volumes. I have even been told words and comments, well after the end of this story, which deeply hurt me. Especially since I was with him out of interest. As if love, sincere love, could not exist between a young girl from a working class background and a man of power. As if everything had to be perverted. Versailles could be a metaphor for movie people. I felt that violently, until I made my own films.” A past now far behind her.