An altogether classy affair from Max Ophuls, immaculately shot, intelligently written and featuring great performances from Charles Boyer as a possessive cold-hearted General and the very beautiful Danielle Darrieux as his manipulative wife who sells her husband's wedding gift of a pair of diamond earrings to clear her debts and increasingly gets caught up in her own lies when she falls in love with another man. Brilliant.
As with La Ronde, Max Ophüls explores what we call in French, le parcours de l'objet (i.e. the course an object takes) in The Earrings of Madame de..., as the pesky title jewels keep getting lost and returned to a countess played by Danielle Darrieux. As usual, Ophüls impresses with impossible tracking shots and inventive staging - his camera work is more modern than a lot of contemporary movies - and uses irony and reversal first to create comic moments (is this his funniest film?), then fuel tragedy. I do somewhat resent the ironic ending and would have been interested in seeing the original novella's actual finale, but perhaps he felt it too sentimental. Be that as it may, I feel like it undercuts the best thing about the story, which is the complex relationship between the countess and her husband, in a marriage of convenience, yes, but not a toxic one... until her own romanticizing makes it so. The most painful irony is that he would have given her everything she wanted so long as appearances were kept up, but she couldn't trust that narrative, even during the Belle Époque.
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dombrewer
An altogether classy affair from Max Ophuls, immaculately shot, intelligently written and featuring great performances from Charles Boyer as a possessive cold-hearted General and the very beautiful Danielle Darrieux as his manipulative wife who sells her husband's wedding gift of a pair of diamond earrings to clear her debts and increasingly gets caught up in her own lies when she falls in love with another man. Brilliant.armyofshadows
A great film. The most essential Ophuls.Alias
What a boring set of characters. No wonder Oscar Wilde was constantly making fun of the high society of his times.David Giancarlo
Danielle Darrieux's turn here is my favourite performance, ever.deckard.
this bored me as hell like dreyer's gertrud.at least the conceited, liar bitch got what she deserved. it was a little bit of consolation for all that wasted time for watching this drivel.
Siskoid
As with La Ronde, Max Ophüls explores what we call in French, le parcours de l'objet (i.e. the course an object takes) in The Earrings of Madame de..., as the pesky title jewels keep getting lost and returned to a countess played by Danielle Darrieux. As usual, Ophüls impresses with impossible tracking shots and inventive staging - his camera work is more modern than a lot of contemporary movies - and uses irony and reversal first to create comic moments (is this his funniest film?), then fuel tragedy. I do somewhat resent the ironic ending and would have been interested in seeing the original novella's actual finale, but perhaps he felt it too sentimental. Be that as it may, I feel like it undercuts the best thing about the story, which is the complex relationship between the countess and her husband, in a marriage of convenience, yes, but not a toxic one... until her own romanticizing makes it so. The most painful irony is that he would have given her everything she wanted so long as appearances were kept up, but she couldn't trust that narrative, even during the Belle Époque.greenhorg
Madame De...: The title of this movie, with the ellipses, is pronounced "Madame duuuuuuhh" (It's even spoken out loud during the film!)Dieguito
Great movie, the best of Max Ophüls.everyonewantstolaugh
Just lovelynicolaskrizan
the suffering of the upper classeshttp://1001movies.posterous.com/914