Earrings of Madame de...

Earrings of Madame de...
by Max Ophuls

Earrings of Madame de...

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DVD details

Actor: Charles Boyer, Danielle Darrieux, Jean Debucourt, Madeleine Barbulee, Paul Az??is
Director: Max Ophuls
Brand: IMAGE ENT.
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: French (Original Language); English (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 100 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-09-16
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Criterion Collection
Product features:

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

DVD Reviews of Earrings of Madame de...

DVD Review: A French novel as film
Summary: 4 Stars

This is a black and white film made of a period novel.
The costumes and settings are 19th century French.
The movie has a tight thematic structure of a love triangle
where a set of diamond heart earrings are a central prop.
First Louise the wife of the general sells them to pay her debts,
and says she lost them
and he buys them back from the jeweler.
He gives them to his departing mistress
and she losing them gambling.
A French diplomat, the Baron, buys them
and meets the Madame de and falls in love.
The triangle revolves around the earrings when she gets them as
a gift from the Baron.
I liked the movie and the structure of the romance gone wrong.

DVD Review: MUSICAL SCORE INFORMATION
Summary: 5 Stars

Although I can add little to the agreeable reviews of this magnificent film, perhaps I can save some Amazon patrons the time I spent in finding a soundtrack CD containing three or four of the film's beautifully haunting waltz compositions.

Just search Amazon for the Georges Van Parys (et la cinema) soundtrack. (Georges Van Parys and Oscar Straus were the main composers for this film.) ENJOY!

DVD Review: "Besides, the movie's boring."
Summary: 2 Stars

If you don't know who said that, it means you haven't checked out the interview with the author of the book on which this movie is based, included in the bonus materials. Yup, Louise de Vilmorin herself dumps on the movie but good. She says "wrong" (faux) so many times I lost track. Apparently, Ophuls initially handed her a treatment for the movie that she thought was fine, then producers didn't think that was commercial enough and they had the story changed in so many ways that it no longer resembled the book. de Vilmorin pulls no punches in her critique and the points are all well taken.

I too found the whole business hard to believe and not the least bit romantic. The ending is awful and about as cliche as it gets. The idea that a French general would challenge an Italian diplomat to a duel is just silly. Why? Can you spell "international incident"? There is no way the French Foreign Ministry would have allowed such foolishness, nor would a senior military officer even consider such behavior in real life = court martial. Yes, I know there are stupid generals but the general in the film is not stupid.

This story was filmed again in 2001 with Carole Bouquet in the title role, and that's a much better movie. Gone are the annoying tracking shots, there is no silly duel, and the ending actually make sense, ditto the moral of the story, which is what can happen when pride is put ahead of love. Unfortunately, this version is only available in French without subtitles and you can only get it at Amazon.Fr. Oh well ...

DVD 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.

DVD Review: Earrings of Madame de... DVD
Summary: 5 Stars

This 1953 B&W French film (with subtitles, if needed) by the fantastic Max Oph?ls is stunning! Charles Boyer is the husband, the G?n?ral, and his wife is the beautiful Danielle Darrieux; her eyes alone are mesmerizing. The cinematography is sensational, the pictures crisp and well framed. You almost feel as though you are part of the film. The story, set in Paris of the late 19th century, is of a romantic triangle between the G?n?ral, his wife, and her handsome lover -- and the earrings that pass amongst them. It's entertaining on so many levels -- there's romance, and comedy, and tragedy, and the musical score -- so brilliant -- this film is a winner!

Description of Earrings of Madame de...

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.

SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES New, restored high-definition digital transfer, Audio commentary featuring film scholars Susan White and Gaylyn Studlar , Interviews with Ophuls collaborators Alain Jessua, Marc Frederix, and Annette Wademant
A visual analysis of The Earrings of Madame de . . . by film scholar Tag Gallagher, Interview with novelist Louise de Vilmorin on Ophuls's adaptation of her story, New and improved English subtitle translation PLUS: 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 George Annenkov

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