Earrings of Madame de...
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Movie Reviews of Earrings of Madame de...
Movie Review: One of Max Ophuls most elegant and saddest films, with superb performances by Boyer, Darrieux and De Sica
Summary: 5 Stars
What a sad, elegant film this is. The Earrings of Madame de... takes us into the fin de siecle Parisian world of the mannered rich, where the act of amorous intimacy is as much an expected social obligation as it is a personal pleasure, where a serious discussion about serious things is considered as indiscrete as loving one's spouse.
"Madame de... is a most elegant lady," we are told, "distinguished, received everywhere. She seemed destined to a delightful, untroubled existence. Doubtless nothing would have happened but for the jewels." She (Danielle Darrieux) is married to the rich and assured General Andre de... (Charles Boyer). When she realizes she has debts she cannot pay and does not want her husband to learn of, she sells a pair of diamond earrings her husband gave her the day after they were married. She tells her husband a little lie, that the earrings were stolen. The jeweler, not knowing of the little lie, soon goes to the general, assuming he will want to buy them back. He does, but rather than embarrass his wife, he gives them to a mistress he is saying farewell to as she departs for Constantinople. And there, she sells the jewels to cover her gambling debts. The jewels soon appear in the window of an elegant Constantinople jewelry store where Baron Fabrizio Donati (Vittorio De Sica), an Italian diplomat soon on his way to Paris, buys them. And since fate and convenience work in mysterious ways, Donati meets Madame de in Paris and they fall into what passes for love by their class. Donati gives the earrings to Madame de as a sign of his love, not knowing they were originally given to her by her husband. And Madame de must now tell a few more little lies. When her husband, the General, sees them, she must tell even more. From a story of amusing deceptions and brilliant social manners, the movie becomes a much darker and sadder story. Donati may be in love, but he understands the limits of their social class. Madame de may be in love, but for the first time in her life she moves beyond those limits. And the General? He may be worldly to a fault, he may even love his wife, but even he cannot accept becoming an object of smiles behind fans without taking some sort of action.
Ophuls immediately captures us with the elegance of both his camera and the dialogue, a mix of oblivious self-centeredness and matter-of-fact moral amusement. This was a time, for those who could afford it, before trophy mistresses learned to first demand gold wedding rings, before trophy wives required community property laws, prenuptial agreements and slick lawyers in custom-bought silk suits. Madame de lives in this world and thrives. Her downfall may be the result of the diamond earrings her husband gave her, but the real cause certainly is that she actually fell in love. Not just in love, either, but in love with the memory of love.
What a pleasure it is to see subtle and experienced actors as Charles Boyer, Danielle Darrieux and Vittorio De Sica take their roles and bring them to life in such a way that we are forced to continually readjust our feelings toward their characters. When Boyer as the General comments to his wife that "a liar should have more sangfroid," he manages without effort to show amusement, indulgence, perhaps love, but also a little distaste, all in one line reading. All three expertly show us a class of society it's more satisfying to be amused by than to take seriously, yet all three succeed in making us take their characters not only seriously, but each one with a good deal of sympathy.
Please note that the Criterion release is not scheduled until September 2008, nearly three months from now. My comments on the movie here are based on watching the Region 2 release which I have. I think so much of this film I plan to buy the Criterion release as soon as it's issued. I'll add a paragraph to these comments concerning the Criterion extras and transfer quality after I watch it.
Movie Review: Perfect Stars, Story, and Camera-work
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Earrings of Madame de" is set in Paris during the early 20th Century. It drips with beauty and grace as the elaborate camera shots track the stars and celestial sets through upper class homes and palaces. Louisa (Danielle Darrieux) is a pampered and frivolous flirtatious wife of General Andre de (Charles Boyer). She secretly decides to sell the beautiful diamond earrings he gave her on their wedding day to pay off a bothersome debt she has. This inadvertently sets off a a chain of events that results in a whirlwind affair with an Italian Baron Donati (Vittorio De Sica).
Everything seems right in this movie, the stars, the timing, and an interesting story that shows how fate heads them all toward an ironic ending. Boyer plays a strict, disciplined masochistic army general that keeps his emotions in check, Danielle Darrieux is a great actress and is able to show how his frivolous wife, Louisa, evolves through her lies and deep love for Baron Donati.
A lie evolves and once the earrings are first sold, Louisa lies to her husband acting like she lost the earrings at the opera. This leads to a story of theft and a fuss in Paris. The jewelers become frightened, and the buyer comes to the General and tells him the truth. Louisa sold the jewelers the earrings secretly to get cash for debts. The general buys the earrings back again, not telling his wife, but giving them to his mistress, Lola. Lola goes to Constantinople and loses everything she has in gambling and barters the earrings for payment. The Italian Diplomat, Baron Donati, then sees them as a deal and buys them in Constantinople and returns to Paris. Donati meets Louise and the earrings return to her with new meaning.
Overall this beautifully crafted drama is fascinating. It has an interesting story, perfect casting and the camera tracking elaborate and difficult dance scenes.
It was made in 1953, a French movie with subtitles.
Movie Review: A Rare Love Story that Sparkles.
Summary: 5 Stars
Director Max Ophüls is known for his brilliant tracking shots and elaborate camera movements (which influenced Stanley Kubrick). He is also well known for the dazzling beauty of his 1953 black-and white film, The Earrings of Madame de . . ., which is based on a novel by Louise Leveque de Vilmorin. Set in Vienna in the late 19th century, the film tells the story of an elegant aristocratic woman, Countess Louisa (Danielle Darrieux) who, unbeknownst to her husband, General Andre (Charles Boyer), sells her earrings to cover her personal debts. The General gave her the diamond earrings as a wedding gift. Remy the jeweler then sells them back to the General who, in turn, gives them to his mistress, Lola (Lia Di Leo). She gambles them away in Constantinople. The Countess then falls in love with an Italian, Baron Donati (Vittorio De Sica), who gives her the same earrings as a sign of his love. She must then deceive the General about how she got the earrings back. This film is like a rare, evanescent gem. From a technical standpoint it is brilliantly cut and the cinematography sparkles, which is reason enough to experience this of a film. Roger Ebert calls this film "one of the great pleasures of the cinema."
The new Criterion edition features a newly restored high-definition digital transfer; audio commentary featuring film scholars Susan White and Gaylyn Studlar; interviews with Ophuls collaborators Alain Jessua, Mar Frédérix, and Annette Wademant; a visual analysis of The Earrings of Madame de . . . by film scholar Tag Gallagher; an interview with novelist Louise de Vilmorin on Ophuls's adaptation of her story; new and improved English subtitle translation; and a new essay by Molly Haskell, Louise de Vilmorin's novella Madame de, upon which the film is based, and a reprinted essay by costume designer and longtime Ophuls collaborator Georges Annenkov.
G. Merritt
Movie Review: Le beau monde
Summary: 5 Stars
Even without the great performances of Charles Boyer and Danielle Darrieux as General de.... and his wife, even without the superlative use of camera movement and mise-en-scene, this famous 1953 Max Ophuls melodrama would be worth seeing just for its spectacular sets and costumes of the Parisian Belle Epoque (although based on a novella by Louise Leveque de Vilmorin, the setting is the same beau monde as in Proust's fiction). The wealthy spoiled beautiful wife of a titled French general, the title heroine (Darrieux) pawns the diamond earrings her husband gave her as a wedding present; the earrings change hands again and again, acquiring different meanings altogether as they circulate, and come back several times into the hands of Madame de...; they represent the only stability in her world of evanescent pleasures and loyalties and values. As the earrings travel we see Madame de... grow up and become first the celebrant--and then the victim--of her own mature passion for a titled Italian diplomat (the film director Vittorio de Sica). Few actors could have carried off this metamorphosis as believably and as poignantly as Darrieux, who genuinely makes us feel for the unfaithful heroine after her lover leaves her for insulting his honor; Boyer, as her well-meaning husband (who is slow to wrath but who can arrive at it eventually) is equally fine. As with most Ophuls films, it begins with an unforgettable sequence (a lengthy POV shot of Madame de... moving in and among her beautiful wardrobe, deciding which among her opulent effects to pawn) that is equaled by other effortless shots that show his incredible mastery of camera movement. The adjoining bedrooms and boudoirs of Boyer's and Darrieux's form one of the most gorgeous sets ever devised for a film; the way the camera moves through it is almost heartstoppingly beautiful.Movie Review: The magisterial Max Ophuls, and one of his greatest films....
Summary: 5 Stars
Let me start off like this....bear with me...
I detest Hollywood chick flicks. They are simplistic, childish, silly, and completely unrealistic in their depiction of so-called romance. The term "romantic comedy" makes me nauseaous. Many friends and family members have come under the erroneous impression that I am not a romantic. Far from it. I prefer my romance of the old school, a deep, unshakeable romance, those feelings that if you're open to them, you cannot deny them at all. A love that comes with maturity, with passion and intelligence, one that is so deep, so knowing, so consuming, so happy yet sad at the same time. Many try and find this love in a superficial, uncaring world, and many are destroyed by it, others find it and die for it, yet they are the lucky ones.
I see this in the films of Max Ophuls.
The Earrings of Madame de... is one of Ophuls's greatest works. It's a magnificent film of deep style and even deeper substance, something that is rarely achieved by any filmmaker. Ophuls's mise en scene, with his incredibly camera work (especially for its time, before the invention of steadicams), beautiful performances, wonderful dialogue, and deep, deep wisdom about how men and women try and destroy each other, yet, must have one another as well. This film has a small plot thread about a set of earrings that set off a chain of events that spiral out of control and consume the protagonists, and that leads the film to its stunning, unforgettable conclusion.
There's so much to Ophuls's films that it's almost impossible to do them justice in writing about them. Criterion has released this one and La Ronde, another magnificent work, so if you are a real romantic (not a Hollywood one), you must witness these films. They may change your life.