| Earrings of Madame de... | 
| Director: Max Ophuls
Actors: Charles Boyer, Danielle Darrieux, Paul Azais, Madeleine Barbulee, Jean Debucourt
Studio: Criterion Collection
Category: DVD
List Price: $39.95
Buy New: $27.22
You Save: $12.73 (32%)
Buy New/Used from $26.95
Avg. Customer Rating:   (7 reviews)
Sales Rank: 12743
Format: Black & White, Dolby, Dvd-video, Full Screen, Ntsc, Subtitled
Languages: French (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: Unrated
Media: DVD
Running Time: 100 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.6 x 0.7
MPN: IMEDCC1767D
UPC: 715515031622
EAN: 0715515031622
ASIN: B001BEK8C4
Release Date: September 16, 2008
Theatrical Release Date: 1953
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
French master Max Ophuls's most cherished work, The Earrings of Madame de . . . is an emotionally profound, cinematographically adventurous tale of false opulence and tragic romance. When the aristocratic woman known only as Madame de . . . (the extraordinary Danielle Darrieux) sells her earrings, unbeknownst to her husband (Charles Boyer), in order to pay personal debts, she sets off a chain reaction, the financial and carnal consequences of which can only end in despair. Ophuls adapts Louise de Vilmorin's incisive fin de siecle novella with virtuosic camera work so elegant and precise it's been called the equal to that of Orson Welles.
SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES New, restored high-definition digital transfer, Audio commentary featuring film scholars Susan White and Gaylyn Studlar , Interviews with Ophuls collaborators Alain Jessua, Marc Frederix, and Annette Wademant
A visual analysis of The Earrings of Madame de . . . by film scholar Tag Gallagher, Interview with novelist Louise de Vilmorin on Ophuls's adaptation of her story, New and improved English subtitle translation PLUS: A new essay by Molly Haskell, Louise de Vilmorin's novella Madame de, upon which the film is based, and a reprinted essay by costume designer and longtime Ophuls collaborator George Annenkov
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 Intricate display of unanticipated consequences November 19, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This French film with English subtitles graphically tells the tale of the consequences of what is originally a "white lie" by the emotionally detached heroine that initiates a series of events that end in tragedy when the heroine becomes emotionally committed to her lover and loses him by evading total truthfullnes. A ruby solitaire film in the genre of Arthur Schnitzler.
 Lovely film October 26, 2008
This is one of the most lovely, classic French films ever made. Beautifully filmed and wonderful performances by all at the actors, especially Danielle Darrieux.
Max Ophuels' most popular film October 19, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film
The Earrings of Madame de... released in France as Madame de..., is the story of a woman whose full name we are never told and all that is revealed is that her surname has the prefix "de" and that her first name is Louise. The film is based on a novel by Louise Leveque de Vilmorin.
The film is about a socialite sells her earrings given to her by her husband to pay off some of her debts. Her husband then buys back the earrings and gives them to his mistress. An Italiam buys them and Louise gets them from him and she has an affair with him.
This film is quite interesting and has some great moments.
The DVD has some great special features too. Paul Thomas Anderson gives an introduction to the film, and there is optional audio commentary by film scholars Susan White and Gaylyn Studlar. There are also interviews with colleagues of Ophuels, Alain Jessua, Marc Frederix, and Annette Wademant, an interview with Louise de Vilmorin, and a narrated visual essay about the film by Tag Gallagher. Also included is a 75 page booklet with lots of other extras.
This is a DVD that Ophuels fans must buy.
Don't Waste Time Reading This Review -- Watch the Movie! September 17, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
One of cinema's greatest masters, Max Ophuls. A brilliant screenplay, equal parts romance, humor, cynicism and tragedy. Career performances from Darrieux, de Sica and Boyer. A film that's been a staple of all-time greatest movie lists since its initial release. The usual deluxe Criterion transfer and goodie-stuffed package (thanks, Criterion, for including the novella this movie's based on -- been trying to track it down for years!) For my money, the happiest DVD of the year. Essential.
The magisterial Max Ophuls, and one of his greatest films.... June 26, 2008
10 out of 15 found this review helpful
Let me start off like this....bear with me...
I detest Hollywood chick flicks. They are simplistic, childish, silly, and completely unrealistic in their depiction of so-called romance. The term "romantic comedy" makes me nauseaous. Many friends and family members have come under the erroneous impression that I am not a romantic. Far from it. I prefer my romance of the old school, a deep, unshakeable romance, those feelings that if you're open to them, you cannot deny them at all. A love that comes with maturity, with passion and intelligence, one that is so deep, so knowing, so consuming, so happy yet sad at the same time. Many try and find this love in a superficial, uncaring world, and many are destroyed by it, others find it and die for it, yet they are the lucky ones.
I see this in the films of Max Ophuls.
The Earrings of Madame de... is one of Ophuls's greatest works. It's a magnificent film of deep style and even deeper substance, something that is rarely achieved by any filmmaker. Ophuls's mise en scene, with his incredibly camera work (especially for its time, before the invention of steadicams), beautiful performances, wonderful dialogue, and deep, deep wisdom about how men and women try and destroy each other, yet, must have one another as well. This film has a small plot thread about a set of earrings that set off a chain of events that spiral out of control and consume the protagonists, and that leads the film to its stunning, unforgettable conclusion.
There's so much to Ophuls's films that it's almost impossible to do them justice in writing about them. Criterion has released this one and La Ronde, another magnificent work, so if you are a real romantic (not a Hollywood one), you must witness these films. They may change your life.
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