I know she was skanky, but there was something about Du Barry

Asia Argento is a beautiful woman, and she is gorgeously costumed in this film. No Doubt part of the interest lies in that. The real du Barry appears to have been not only an attractive woman, but also very human and good natured. She was not a saint certainly, but she was not generally known to be malicious unless first provoked. On the contrary she had a reputation with those who tolerated her at court for being affable and having a real zest for life. This must have been the case since she was dragged, quite literally, kicking and screaming to the guillotine. Likewise, Marie Antoinette was not inherently prone to this kind of court drama. She first noticed du Barry at her wedding feast as a gorgeously dressed woman in very expensive jewelry, a person who definitely stood out in the room. After that, her malicious aunts-in-law poisoned her against du Barry, and manipulated her into becoming du Barry's enemy (much as was shown in the film). The character of du Barry was also very dynamic in the 1938 film with Norma Shearer, though that film even more-so than this one makes a point of portraying Marie Antoinette as an innocent victim and du Barry as a vindictive bully.