The Worst Film Ever

Good movie but grossly overrated

Fresh and Exciting

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

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.

Max Ophuls directs "Madame de...", an adaptation of a Louise Leveque de Vilmorin period novel of the same name. The plot? In early 20th century Paris, the wife of an adulterous husband sells a pair of prized earrings in order to pay her mounting debts. This sets off a chain reaction involving much melodrama, scandal and legal reprisals.Fittingly, our heroine's full name is never disclosed, epitomising her fading self-worth. She likewise ascribes little value to the discarded earrings, a gift from her husband which now serves only to remind of a painful marriage. Rescuing our heroine from torment - and the social strictures of the day - is Fabrizio Donati, a nobleman played by director Vittorio De Sica.Once regarded as a masterpiece, Max Ophuls' "Madame de..." has since fallen out of fashion. Ophuls, at one point the darling of esteemed film-directors (Renoir, Resnais, Kubrick etc), is himself now oft ignored. With voluptuous black-and-white cinematography by Christian Matras.7.5/10 – See "The Shop Around The Corner".

Okay. Time for me to make a bit of a speech. I love French films and have noticed something about Max Ophüls' films (yes, I know he was German but made films in France). Practically all of his famous films have to do with adultery or prostitution. Now I guess I am a pretty old fashioned guy, but I don't enjoy scripts about these topics. So, although I'll admit he was a master storyteller, I just had a hard time getting into the stories or caring about the characters. Who cares about the husband or wife in this film? They both were pretty despicable rich folks who seemed to have nothing to do with their time but gamble, shoot people and flirt with people other than their spouses. What idiots.The film is about a General and his wife the Comptese. They both have every reason to be happy and you think through the first part of the film that they are. But, you do know that the Comptese is unwise--she's run up gambling debts and cannot pay for them without telling her husband. They CAN afford to pay but she doesn't want him to know, so she sells her prize diamond earrings. Then, she claims they were lost. Later, the husband learns that she sold them and buys them back from the man who bought them. Then, he gives them to his mistress. In the meantime, she begins an affair with another man and he is able to buy the earrings and give them to her! There's a bit more to this and there is a sad ending, but I'll let you see this for yourself.I can't fault the film's acting. It stars Danielle Darrieux, Charles Boyer and Vittorio De Sica--all very fine actors. And, as I said above, the film looked lovely--really, really nice. I just didn't care about the characters and so I have a hard time really endorsing the film wholeheartedly. Worth seeing, but not a must-see.

this movie is pretty dull and you get the idea pretty early on from the boxcover that the earrings are going to make the ironic rounds... I just found it not getting me going at all what more can you say. . . butas you know I have to write 10 lines let's see... a great movie I saw at the LA gay film fest is "Angel" a documentary about a hulking ex-boxer queen who sends most of the little money he made street-walking in Paris back to his family in french speaking place in oh dear do I feel stupid he was from Ecuador and was speaking Spanish. what a drag I can't this movie again ASAP... cause it was very brilliantly made, aside from the fact that there was a spectacular superstar in the lead role.oh! so I jumped ahead a bit on my downloaded movie being viewed on computer - what a drag not to be able to watch the film in FF with subtitles... anyway a review said Mr. di Sicca was "a stud" and so I was curious I have a huge poster with his face write large for the movie "Bonjour Elephant" and wondered what was meant. anyway the character is keeping people waiting and the valet or assistant or whatever indicates that the other embassy folk are getting impatient, "don't they have personal lives?" struck me as a singularly unimpressive retort if we're supposed to find this guy appealing! ALL THAT MATTERS IN THIS REVIEW AT PRESENT IS THAT YOU SHOULDN'T MISS "LOLA MONTEZ" AND OUGHT TO LOOK FOR "ANGEL" as well...