happytrigger-64-390517 As a cinema lover, I've always admired Max Ophüls with his romantic movies and his fantastic and vertiginous camera movements. And his very very best is of course "Madame de ..." which can also be considered as one of the best movie of Danièle Darrieux in her high society woman character. Two legends working together.And very sadly, I learned today that DD passed away, just a few days after Jean Rochefort (they played together in "Du Grabuge Chez Les Veuves" and "Le Dimanche de la Vie" which I recommend, DD is very caustic in this one). She played in so many great movies since 1931, what a voice, what a silhouette, what a face. So long DD.

Sameir Ali The journey of a pair of year rings from it's owner Madame De. It was a wedding gift from her husband General Andre. The ear ring was secretly sold by Madame to pay off her debts. It was sold to the same merchant from whom her husband bought it. The merchant informs the General and he buys the ear rings again, but, gives it to his lover. The lover looses it in a gambling at Istanbul. Then it makes a comeback to the Madame. The journey of this "McGuffin" is surrounded by story that includes love and betrayal.A wonderful movie that you will love for it's great making. The actors are wonderful, especially the protagonist Danielle Darrieux. Do not miss this. A must watch. highly recommended.#KiduMovie

kenjha A Parisian countess pawns her precious earrings and lies to her husband that she lost it. The film looks and sounds beautiful, with its opulent cinematography and romantic score. Ophuls' fluid camera work is quite impressive, but he is let down by a routine script that runs out of steam long before the final credits roll. The acting by Darrieux, Boyer, and De Sica is good, although the characters are not particularly well developed. After starting out as a light romantic drama, the film's tone turns rather serious. In fact, it turns into something of a dreary soap opera featuring a tragic love triangle. The contrived ending does not help matters.

jzappa A leisurely film because nothing is treated like a more important attribute of a character than anything else, this is nonetheless one of the most affected and elaborate love movies ever filmed. It sparkles and glints, and underneath the finesse it fashions a heart, and shatters it. This French-Italian romance by influential German-born Max Ophuls is known for its complex cinematography, its flowing technique, its sets, its costumes and naturally its jewelry. It stars Danielle Darrieux, Charles Boyer and Vittorio De Sica, who with no trouble manifest cultivated charm because each player is so comfortable in their own skin. It could have been a pretentious gratuity. We watch with great respect for Ophuls' aesthetic fanfare, so fluent and sophisticated. Then to our bewilderment we find ourselves emotionally invested.The story takes place in Vienna a century or so ago. Boyer's General has married belatedly, and luckily, to Darrieux's Madame, an absolute Venus. He gives her exorbitant diamond earrings as a wedding present. As the film opens, Madame is dangerously tapped out, and searching among her accessories for something to sell. The camera follows her in an continuous shot as she looks through dresses, furs, jewelry, and ultimately rests on the earrings, which she never liked anyway. ''What will you tell your husband?'' asks her hireling. She will tell him that she lost them.Standing back slightly from the comings and goings of the earrings, which is the material of sitcom, the movie begins to look more persistently at Madame de... She and her husband live in a time and place where love affairs are pretty much anticipated. "Your suitors get on my nerves," the General carps as they leave a party. If they do not know in particular who their spouse is flirting with, they know in broad terms. Yet there is a discipline in such situations, and it allows fooling around but not love.Smooth, graceful tracking shots occupy every job of the camera, a stationary transience much like the journey of the material luxury and its seemingly vain covetors. The scene where they fall in love exhibits Ophuls' top form. He likes to display his characters encompassed by, even asphyxiating in, their mood. Interiors are crammed with material furnishings. Their bodies are ornamented with gowns, uniforms, jewelry, decorations. Ophuls likes to shoot past a frontal focus, or through a window, to show a characters enclosed by paraphernalia. But in the decisive romantic scene, a mosaic comprising various nights of dancing, the embracing couple is eventually left all alone after such subtle and simple time lapses.As can be expected from bored affluent socialites, the simplest thing becomes a mystery, and leisurely dialogue becomes not about what's spoken, but what is not spoken, or said instead. Hence, "Madame de..." Though there are a few overdone lines which serve more as aphorisms than natural emotional instigations. Ultimately, the film's about the various emotions that can be truly stimulated by material possessions, not just lust for the possession itself.At the crux of this most annoying titled movie is the idea that the worth of the earrings alters in connection with their connotation. At the start, Madame just needs to hustle them. Then, when they are a gift from her lover, they become priceless. An extravagant knickknack, meant to signify adoration, turns out to be an irritation and a hazard when it actually does. It's a great idea.