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Movies / On DVD / The Earrings of Madame De...
The Earrings of Madame De...

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The Earrings of Madame De... (1953)

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Reviews Counted:23

Fresh:23

Rotten:0

Average Rating:8.8/10

Consensus: Ophüls' graceful camerawork and visual portrayal of luxury and loss make Earrings a powerful French drama.

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

Theatrical Release:Mar 16, 2007 Limited

Synopsis: MADAME DE... is set in the glittering world of Paris high society in the dizzy days before World War One. Madame de...(it is one of the films running jokes that we never learn her name) is played... MADAME DE... is set in the glittering world of Paris high society in the dizzy days before World War One. Madame de...(it is one of the films running jokes that we never learn her name) is played by Danielle Darrieux, a beautiful, charming woman married to Andre (Charles Boyer) a worldly Army General. She is pursued by numerous men in hope of an illicit affair. She doesn't say yes, but never quite says no, preferring, as her suitor Baron Fabrizio (Vittorio De Sica) says, "torture by hope." When she takes off the earrings her husband gave her and sells them in order to pay off a debt, the jeweler sells them back to the General, who gives them to his mistress, who gambles them away. They are unknowingly purchased by Baron Fabrizio, who gives them to Madame de... as a sign of his love. But to wear them she must lie to her husband about how she got them back and to her lover about where they came from. Here, as in LETTER FROM AN UKNOWN WOMAN, Ophüls shows his skill in depicting the world of European society. His sense of staging and camera movement perfectly capture not just the mood and feel of the time, but also the emotions of the characters. [More]

Starring: Charles Boyer, Vittorio De Sica, Danielle Darrieux, Jean Debucourt

Starring: Charles Boyer, Vittorio De Sica, Danielle Darrieux, Jean Debucourt

Director: Max Ophuls

Director: Max Ophuls
Screenwriter: Marcel Achard, Annette Wademant, Marcel Ophuls

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Release:

Sep 16, 2008

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • French master Max Ophuls's most cherished work, The Earrings of Madame de . . . is an emotionally profound, cinematographically adventurous tale of false opulence and tragic romance. When the aristocratic woman known only as Madame de . . . (the extraordinary Danielle Darrieux) sells her earrings, unbeknownst to her husband (Charles Boyer), in order to pay personal debts, she sets off a chain reaction, the financial and carnal consequences of which can only end in despair. Ophuls adapts Louise de Vilmorin's incisive fin de siecle novella with virtuosic camera work so elegant and precise it's been called the equal to that of Orson Welles.
  • Source: Image Entertainment Inc.
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    Reviews for The Earrings of Madame De...

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    The tracking shots effortlessly glide down corridors, into rooms, through gardens. They particularly shine during two dancing scenes, where the smooth movements of the partners are echoed by the graceful camera capturing every move in perfect sync.

    Full Review Source: Film and Felt | comment Comment
    08/21/09
    Gabe Leibowitz
    Gabe Leibowitz
    Film and Felt
    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
    03/26/09
    Variety
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Ravisihing classic made at the height of Ophuls' career (La Ronde, Lola Montes), this much admired film is flawless in subtle narrative and lavish style as an indictment of socio-sexual mores of European aristocracy splendidly acted by Darrieux and Boyer

    Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
    09/27/08
    Emanuel Levy
    Emanuel Levy
    EmanuelLevy.Com

    Ravisihing classic made at the height of Ophuls' career (La Ronde, Lola Montes), this much admired film is flawless in subtle narrative and lavish style as an indictment of socio-sexual mores of European aristocracy splendidly acted by Darrieux and Boyer

    Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
    09/27/08
    Emanuel Levy
    Emanuel Levy
    EmanuelLevy.Com

    .. not just directed, not just choreographed, but sculpted in time and space, with actors and decor as the raw materials and the camera carving out the story.

    Full Review Source: Parallax View | comment Comment
    09/20/08
    Sean Axmaker
    Sean Axmaker
    Parallax View

    Haunting romantic tragedy.

    Full Review Source: Classic Film and Television | comment Comment
    08/08/08
    Michael E. Grost
    Michael E. Grost
    Classic Film and Television

    Rich in story and character.

    Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
    06/15/07
    Jeff Vice
    Jeff Vice
    Deseret News, Salt Lake City

    The brilliance of "Earrings" is in the precision with which Ophuls carefully strips away all the luxury until what we see is not the extravagance, but the wounded, tragic marriage that the extravagance is meant to hide.

    Full Review Source: Capital Times (Madison, WI) | comment Comment
    06/01/07
    Rob Thomas
    Rob Thomas
    Capital Times (Madison, WI)

    It's powerful stuff, but Ophuls' graceful, gliding camera movements provide a sense of beautiful inevitability.

    Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
    03/22/07
    Jeffrey M. Anderson
    Jeffrey M. Anderson
    Combustible Celluloid

    Evanescence is an integral part of cinema, and no other director captured it as lyrically and yet as savagely as Ophüls.

    Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
    03/16/07
    Fernando F. Croce
    Fernando F. Croce
    Slant Magazine

    On one hand, Madame De . . . is all surface and style; on the other, it conveys real loss.

    Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
    03/13/07
    J. Hoberman
    J. Hoberman
    Village Voice
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Three good reasons you should see The Earrings of Madame de … are the presence and performances of Danielle Darrieux, Charles Boyer and Vittorio De Sica. This celestial triangle has never been surpassed in grace, charm and, yes, wit and humor.

    Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
    03/07/07
    Andrew Sarris
    Andrew Sarris
    New York Observer
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Ophüls' penultimate film.

    Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
    06/24/06
    Derek Adams
    Derek Adams
    Time Out

    No review available.

    comment Comment
    10/10/05
    Cole Smithey
    Cole Smithey
    ColeSmithey.com

    No review available.

    comment Comment
    01/03/05
    Michael Dequina
    Michael Dequina
    TheMovieReport.com

    No review available.

    comment Comment
    10/30/04
    Jake Euker
    Jake Euker
    F5 (Wichita, KS)

    Lavish, memorable romance

    comment Comment
    08/24/04
    Daniel Eagan
    Daniel Eagan
    Film Journal International

    Justifying the superlatives heaped upon it by film-makers and critics alike, this is one of Ophüls' finest achievements, a period drama marked by formal beauty and intense feeling.

    Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
    05/24/03
    Tom Dawson
    Tom Dawson
    Channel 4 Film

    Like its turn-of-the-century décor and costuming, it is elegant and filled with decorative but basically unnecessary little items, which give it gentility and a nostalgic mood, but nothing much more substantial.

    Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
    05/20/03
    A.H. Weiler
    A.H. Weiler
    New York Times
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    No film director intoxicates the soul like Max Ophuls.

    Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
    03/10/03
    Marjorie Baumgarten
    Marjorie Baumgarten
    Austin Chronicle
     
     
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