MAIWENN LE BESCO. The director of “Jeanne du Barry”, the opening film of the Cannes Film Festival, is under the influence of controversy when climbing the steps. Maïwenn confirmed having attacked the journalist Edwy Plenel with Daily, without revealing the reasons and the details…
[Updated May 16, 2023 at 1:42 p.m.] Maïwenn is in the spotlight. The director’s latest film, Jeanne du Barry, is screened at the opening of the Cannes Film Festival this Tuesday, May 16, 2023. The actress is expected to walk the red carpet on the Croisette alongside Johnny Depp, also in the cast. If the presence of the actor accused of domestic violence by his ex Amber Heard is controversial, the personality of Maïwenn is also surrounded by a whiff of scandal.
Maïwenn is accused of assault by journalist Edwy Plenel. The founder and president of Médiapart filed a complaint on March 7 against the director for alleged facts that occurred in a restaurant in the 12th arrondissement on February 22, 2023. According to franceinfo and AFP, the journalist mentioned “a woman, previously seated , alone, at another table” having “appeared” and, “in a very short time” having “grabbed him violently by the hair, throwing his head back and sketching a spit on his face”.
The woman in question was identified by staff as Maïwenn Le Besco. On the set of Daily Wednesday, May 10, the actress confirmed with a smile to have attacked Edwy Plenel, however refusing to give the reasons for his gesture or more details. However, she assures that she did not receive the journalist’s complaint.
We do not know why Maïwenn was able to attack Edwy Plenel last February. According to the journalist’s deductions in his complaint, this could be linked to the articles published in Médiapart on the accusations of rape against Luc Besson, her former husband. The president of the media claims to have “personally never had trouble leaving” with the actress, today on the poster of Jeanne du Barry.
Maïwenn Le Besco was born on April 17, 1976 in Seine-Saint-Denis. Pushed very young by her mother from castings to castings, she shot in her first film at the age of five: Next Year if all goes well. She continued in 1983 by playing Isabelle Adjani as a child in Jean Becker’s Murderous Summer. She gets a role to her measure alongside Daniel Auteuil in Lacenaire, a historical film. But finally gets noticed in La Gamine where she gives the reply to Johnny Hallyday.
Maïwenn was only 15 when she met Luc Besson. She quickly becomes his companion and he gives her small roles in Leon or The Fifth Element. She gradually disappears from the screens, takes care of her daughter Shanna Besson and falls into depression after her divorce. She managed to come back strong in Alexandre Aja’s film Haute Tension, released in 2003. Claude Lelouch then offered her two films: Les Parisiens (2004) and Le Courage d’aimer (2005).
Maïwenn finally launched into directing in 2006 with Pardonnez-moi. She plays the role of Violette, a young girl who decides to make a funny gift for her future baby, a family film where all the truths are not good to tell. The young woman seems to have found her way as a director and gives us The Actresses’ Ball in 2009, then Poliss in 2011. This last film is a great success. He was nominated three times for the Césars for Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay. She then signed as director the film Mon Roi, ADN and Jeanne du Barry.
In 1991, Maïwenn began a romantic relationship with director Luc Besson when she was only 15 years old. The filmmaker is 32 years old. The following year, the couple married. Maïwenn will later affirm that the film Léon, which traces the platonic but ambiguous relationship between a contract killer and a teenager, is inspired by her relationship with the director. The couple’s daughter was born in 1993.
Luc Besson finally left Maïwenn in 1996, after meeting Milla Jovovich on the set of The Fifth Element. The director will later recount having had a nervous breakdown and suffered from bulimia at this time. Subsequently, Maïwenn was in a relationship with businessman Jean-Yves Le Fur from 2002 to 2004, with whom she had a child, then had a relationship for a few years with rapper JoeyStarr.
