Ophuls said the storys construction attracted him, stating. Through high drama and an innovative shifting camera, director max ophuls crafts a heartbreaking tale about the escalating dangers of love. The film is famous for its elaborate camera movements, its graceful style, its sets, its costumes and of course its jewelry. Somehow, the earrings always return to the socialite danielle darrieux who sells them at the start in order to pay off a. In france of the late 19th century, the wife of a wealthy general, the countess louise, sells the earrings her husband gave her on their wedding day to pay off debts. Madame of the title is a society beauty and something of a flirt. The difference is mostly in the added resolution and contrast range of hd.
This film follows a pair of earrings as they change hands during a series of betrayals and romances. The diamond earrings of a french aristocrat, a wedding gift from her husband, cause a series of conflicts as they change hands repeatedly. When the general sees them in a shop, he secretly purchases them back for a woman he is having an affair with. By now, ophuls cinematic evolution was complete, his style a subtle but magisterial one. Andrew sarris called it the most perfect film ever made. Armed with a great cast and a compelling premise, its a film that is definitely rich in its images but also in the way it explores a world that is changing as well as attitudes and behaviors. To optimize your experience with your screen reading software, please use our website, which has the same tickets as our fandango. It glitters and dazzles, and beneath the artifice it creates a heart, and breaks it. A french general charles boyer presents his wife with the pricey jewelry, but she is forced to sell the earrings after she runs into. Criterion collection bluray by criterion collection by max ophuls from amazons movies store.
Download the tv guide app for iphone, ipad and android. But a pair of diamond heart earrings, a work of craftsmanship that would awe most anyone else, are perfect for satisfying the task at hand. The film is considered a masterpiece of the 1950s french cinema. She sells her diamond earrings which were a wedding day gift from her husband, presumably to. A french general charles boyer presents his wife with the pricey jewelry, but she is forced to sell the earrings after she runs into financial trouble. Danielle darrieux sells a pair of earrings given to her by her husband charles boyer in order to. Stills must not be reproduced, copied or downloaded in any way.
When an aristocratic woman sells her earrings, unbeknownst to her husband, in order to pay personal debts, she sets off a chain reaction, the financial and carnal consequences of which can only end in despair. There has already been some disagreement amongst aficionados regarding the upgrade, and i tend to side with those who think it is an improvement. The brilliance of earrings is in the precision with which ophuls carefully strips away all the luxury until what we see is not the extravagance, but the wounded, tragic marriage that the. A woman lies to her husband about having sold a pair of diamond earrings which were a gift from him. After criterion gave the film a very strong dvd release i was excited to see what this bluray edition would offer only to find myself largely dissatisfied. Feb 14, 20 o ne of the greats, and in the opinion of many the greatest, has been restored. In 19thcentury vienna, the title characters husband, charles boyer, has gifted her diamond earrings, which she hocks for cash. Andre and louise boyer and darrieux are a general and his countess living in france sometime around the end of the 19th century. His use of camera movement to instruct us in the sorrows of his troubled central characters is perhaps the most sophisticated use of visual technique in the history of cinema. Set in paris in the late 1800s, comtesse louise danielle darrieux is forced to betray her marriage. Though passable, the video transfer is unfortunately home to unnecessary digital filtering that does rob the movie of detail and. Into it, as though he somehow sensed that his career was about to end, he collected so many of the themes that had preoccupied him.
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