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Post by RiP, IMDb on Apr 19, 2020 7:02:32 GMT
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Post by wmcclain on Apr 19, 2020 11:52:21 GMT
The Earrings of Madame de... (1953), directed by Max Ophüls. It begins like a sophisticated, cynical sex farce. French, naturally. The countess has "suitors" but can indulge them only so far. Her husband the general doesn't mind as long as she stays in bounds; he has a mistress for diversion. Wealthy as madame may be, she needs still more money and pawns her jeweled earrings, claiming they were lost to conceal the act. We figure these are the plot "mcguffin" as we trace their circuitous route in and out of the family several times. When she falls in love with a diplomat the comedy fades away and we enter the tragic story of a broken marriage. The earrings stop being the plot gimmick and become fraught with meaning, so tainted in the end they are given to the Church as a deodand: a gift to God because it would be improper for anyone to keep them. I don't remember seeing any of the director's other films, and I particularly wanted to see Danielle Darrieux again, after her screwball performance in The Rage of Paris (1938). "Earrings" was written for her. Said to be low-budget but the costumes and locations look opulent to me. The main theme reminds me of "It's a Great Big World" from The Harvey Girls (1946). Criterion Blu-ray. The commentary track with two film scholars wanders into PoMoLitCrit and I bailed.  Darrieux and Charles Boyer were together 17 years earlier in Mayerling: 
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Post by RiP, IMDb on Apr 19, 2020 13:28:02 GMT
The Earrings of Madame de... (1953), directed by Max Ophüls.
It begins like a sophisticated, cynical sex farce. French, naturally. The countess has "suitors" but can indulge them only so far. Her husband the general doesn't mind as long as she stays in bounds; he has a mistress for diversion.
Wealthy as madame may be, she needs still more money and pawns her jeweled earrings, claiming they were lost to conceal the act. We figure these are the plot "mcguffin" as we trace their circuitous route in and out of the family several times.
When she falls in love with a diplomat the comedy fades away and we enter the tragic story of a broken marriage. The earrings stop being the plot gimmick and become fraught with meaning, so tainted in the end they are given to the Church as a deodand: a gift to God because it would be improper for anyone to keep them.
I don't remember seeing any of the director's other films, and I particularly wanted to see Danielle Darrieux again, after her screwball performance in The Rage of Paris (1938). "Earrings" was written for her.
Said to be low-budget but the costumes and locations look opulent to me. The main theme reminds me of "It's a Great Big World" from The Harvey Girls (1946).
Criterion Blu-ray. The commentary track with two film scholars wanders into PoMoLitCrit and I bailed.
Darrieux and Charles Boyer were together 17 years earlier in Mayerling:
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Post by wmcclain on Apr 19, 2020 13:37:11 GMT
Yes, this is my review and I made the thumbnails. I have seen it.
Everything I post is from my own website, as linked in my signature and below my avatar.
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Post by RiP, IMDb on Apr 19, 2020 14:00:19 GMT
Yes, this is my review and I made the thumbnails. I have seen it.
Everything I post is from my own website, as linked in my signature and below my avatar.
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Post by mikef6 on Apr 19, 2020 14:13:47 GMT
I have seen “Earrings” (1953) and two other movies from Max Ophüls.
Le Plaisir (House Of Pleasure) (1952). A delightful anthology film consisting of dramatizations of three short stories by Guy de Maupassant.
Lola Montès (1955). Caused a scandal when premiered in Paris. The producers cut out some scenes, dubbed part of the German dialogues into French and remixed the sound. In 2008, the film was restored to the director’s original cut. With Martine Carol, Peter Ustinov, Anton Walbrook, and Oskar Werner.
Both are highly recommended by moi.
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Post by london777 on Apr 19, 2020 14:20:49 GMT
I added this to my collection two years ago. It bored me stiff. I have decided that I do not like the much-lauded Max Ophuls. I got interested in his work after watching and liking The Reckless Moment (1949), one of his US efforts, but after watching most of his more celebrated movies I realized it was atypical of his work.
I had happy memories of watching La Ronde (1950) as a youth, shortly after its release but after adding it to my collection recently I was very disappointed with it and realized it was really only the always wonderful Anton Walbrook who had enchanted me when young. (I wanted to grow up to be that cosmopolitan and sophisticated but ended up more like Alf Garnett, or Archie Bunker to you Yanks).
I do like the middle and longest section of Le Plaisir (1952), a portmanteau movie (as was fashionable world-wide in the post-war period), but again, being mostly set in the countryside, it is a bit less typical of the urban Ophuls and more reminiscent of Renoir.
Finally, I recently added Lola Montès (1955) to my collection. It is a wonderful spectacle but the story-line and casting let it down. Lola (Martine Carol) is supposed to be this vivacious Irish lass whom men find irresistible but is about as animated as a store-window mannequin and could not look less Irish. And Walbrook is criminally misused.
And even the spectacle, opening out from the stage into the real world, had been done so much more subtly and poetically by Powell and Pressburger ("The Red Shoes" for example). It is less than two hours long but seemed to drag, especially the Oskar Werner scenes. Better editing of the "linking" scenes might have helped. The film was hacked around a lot over the years. Although mine is supposedly the best version I am not sure that a final cut which satisfied everyone was ever arrived at. More a case of "This is the best we can do with it", I suspect.
My ratings:
The Reckless Moment 1949 6.5
Le Plaisir 1952 6.0 (middle section 7.0, the rest 4.5)
Lola Montès 1995 6.0
La Ronde 1950 5.0
The Earrings of Madame de … 1953 4.5
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Post by wmcclain on Apr 19, 2020 15:25:56 GMT
I remember Caught (1949) as having a good cast (James Mason, Barbara Bel Geddes, Robert Ryan) and being well made, but ruined by a trivial script. Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948) is well-regarded but didn't do much for me. I did like Le Plaisir (1952): Le Plaisir (1952), directed by Max Ophüls. "House of Pleasure". Three stories by de Maupassant, which I think was a wise choice. Ophüls' films sometimes suffered from weak scripts. The Earrings of Madame de... (1953) was good, but Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948) was not very strong, and in Caught (1949) a good cast -- James Mason, Barbara Bel Geddes, Robert Ryan -- were wasted on a trivial story. But here he relies on a master storyteller with good results: Le MasqueIn a nightclub packed with interior windows the camera pans and tilts with the dizzy night life. An old man tries to regain his youth by putting on a mask and dancing until he drops. La Maison TellierThe longest and best segment. The friendly village bordello is more than a sex shop: it is a second home and community center for the men. The women working there have "roles" they put on, like actresses. One evening the patrons find the lights are out and the doors locked. Shock and consternation! What has happened to them? The morose men collect and begin bickering. As it turns out: Madame has taken all her people on the train to attend her niece's First Communion in another village. A vacation for the sex workers! They are well received and everyone has a good time. Danielle Darrieux ( The Rage of Paris (1938), 5 Fingers (1952), The Earrings of Madame de... (1953)) is one of the prostitutes, and Jean Gabin ( Grand Illusion (1937)) is their host who becomes smitten with her. Le ModèleThe tempestuous relation between an artist and his model, Simone Simon ( Cat People (1942), The Curse of the Cat People (1944)). Available on DVD from Criterion.  |
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Post by petrolino on Apr 19, 2020 19:12:03 GMT
Yes. I have it on dvd.
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Post by delon on Apr 19, 2020 20:24:17 GMT
Yes. I actually attended the screening of Madame de ... about a month ago, just before cinemas have closed because of the covid-19 outbreak.
It was a film that opened the Max Ophüls retrospective. The film critic that presented it spoke in great detail about the influence that Ophüls played on young Stanley Kubrick, particularly regarding his tracking and fluid camera techniques. It was even mentioned that the dancing sequence in Eyes Wide Shut (1999) was a direct homage to Madame de... Anyway I liked it a great deal.
I also got to see Lola Montes (1955) which was beautiful looking, but also tedious.
Unfortunately, I missed out on Le Plaisir (1952). Very curious about that one.
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