Max Ophuls' The 'Earrings of Madame de...' is a visually stunning, sparkling melodrama for adults. There is so much subtext in the script (most of what the characters say is not what they mean) that it requires an film goer with a fully engaged mind to appreciate the film. I think it is the subtlety and restraint
that have kept this film off most 'best films of all time' lists, which tend to favor bigger emotions and more sweeping visual epics. The unlikely plot sounds pretty contrived, and it is. The premise is that the fate of a peripatetic, inanimate object (earrings in this case) owned by the spoiled trophy wife is the catalyst for life changing epiphanies. I recently saw a very different classic, Winchester 73 with James Stewart where the object was a rifle. The plot is contrived, but the characters aren't, they are fully recognizable humans. The plot is just the Macguffin to get there. As the earrings pass from hand to hand, new layers of character and information are revealed about the nature of the relationships of the members of this love triangle, Charles Boyer (the cuckolded French General), Danielle Darrieux (the spoiled trophy wife), and her lover, to whom she doesn't get to actually make love, Vittorio De Sica (the Italian diplomat and Darrieux' lover). The performances are flawless, and despite the low key nature of the style, somewhere at the 45 minute mark we care about these people and are glued to find out how it all turns out. Despite the light tone, the film is ultimately a tragedy.I can't let my little review end without mentioning the sumptuous photography and the best use of moving dolly shots that I have ever seen in a film. The camera follows character as they move from room to room and from object to object. It's not as attention grabbing as the big restaurant single shot scene in Scorsese's "Good Fellas", but the shots are so well executed, we barely notice them except to be fully involved and empathized with the characters. If you like Renoir's 'Rules of the Game' or Bergman's 'Smiles of a Summer Night' you must see this film. Or if you're just starting to get into black and white mid-twentieth century European films about adultery among the gentry, this film is a good place to start.
November 16, 2011
Top Critic
