Directed by:
Max OphülsCinematography:
Christian MatrasCast:
Charles Boyer, Danielle Darrieux, Vittorio De Sica, Jean Debucourt, Jean Galland, Paul Azaïs, Mireille Perrey, Madeleine Barbulée, Colette Régis (more)VOD (2)
Plots(1)
A Parisian socialite sells the diamond earrings given to her by her husband. Her husband coincidently spots them in a jewelry shop and buys them for his mistress. She in turn loses them gambling and they are bought once again by a rich Italian diplomat. He turns around and gives the jewels to his mistress... the original Parisian socialite. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Reviews (2)
Grand, overwhelming, bombastic in its melodramatic nature beyond the rather high emotional ceiling of the genre. The dubious fatefulness is not hidden behind the characters’ actions, but rises to the surface, and its involvement in the game is conspicuously pointed out to us several times (the bet on thirteen, the interpretation of the cards). The men here are active and observant; the women are passive, observed, constantly swooning, dealing with emotions and taking care of their outward appearance. They so conscientiously take care of their appearance that it seems natural when Louise treats her diamond earrings more tenderly than she treats the men who come into her life and who are consequently just unreliable, less glittering derivatives of those earrings. Music plays almost continuously, stirring emotions and inspiring the characters to dance. The dancers (of whom the grand prize for endurance goes to Christian Matras behind the camera) exhibit the same tirelessness, to the point that in one scene there is nothing left for an annoyed musician to do but to demonstratively pack up his things and leave. He is overwhelmed by the melodramatic determination of the film, which is only just getting into the final third, which is perhaps less active in terms of movement, but is unabashedly self-reflexive in its sense of irony. Ophüls’s peak work and the most action-oriented of the films in which the only real “surface” action takes place off-screen. 85%
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It's a powerful film that tells the story of how one social class functions. Actually, it's more about how it doesn't function. Some scenes are excellent, they are beautifully shot, but it just didn't manage to compel me to fully engage and pay attention to every shot. It's not a bad movie, it's just that the subject matter didn't quite grab me.
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