The Earrings of Madame De...
by Max Oph?ls
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VHS Tape Cover Information
Actor: Charles Boyer, Danielle Darrieux, Jean Debucourt, Jean Galland, Vittorio De SicaDirector: Max Oph?ls
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Subtitled); French (Original Language), Analog
Format: Black & White, NTSC
Running Time: 100 minutes
Release Date: 1994-07-15
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: Hollywood Select Video
Studio: Hollywood Select Video
VHS Movie Reviews of The Earrings of Madame De...
Movie Review: Even great movies can be unsatisfactory
Summary: 2 Stars
I was looking forward to viewing this almost universally acclaimed movie. But the quality of the (ancient) print on the video is poor, and it really interfered with my enjoyment of the film. Picture and sound need a lot of work. The subtitles are often illegible because they merge with the background. Also, since I know some French, I could tell the subtitles were wholly inadequate in conveying the content of the dialogue.
Nevertheless, I'd still rather see this stunted version of 'The Earrings of Madame de...' than not see it at all. There is an allure here, the possibility of being drawn into another world and another time, that makes me want to watch this again. I hope we won't have to wait forever for Criterion or whoever to produce a DVD of this movie. I'm sure movie lovers everywhere will rejoice once this film gets the complete makeover treatment, with remastered sound and picture, brand new subtitles, and hopefully some extras about the times, the people and the places in this special film.
Summary of The Earrings of Madame De...
Considered by many critics to be Max Oph?ls's finest work, The Earrings of Madame de... is an exquisitely sculpted romance masterpiece of surface manners, social graces, and meaningless gestures passed off as honor. Danielle Darrieux is the unnamed Madame, the spoiled wife of Charles Boyer, who is the epitome of the confident, cultured gentleman. Trapped by mutual consent in a loveless marriage, she occupies her days spending herself into debt and her evenings flirting with silly young suitors, while her husband dallies with his mistress. The veil of respectability that protects this perfect relationship of lies and indulgence is torn away by a pair of earrings she secretly sells to cover debts and her husband buys back for his mistress. In a circularity so loved by Oph?ls, the jewels travel back to Madame as a present from a suitor (a suave and serious Vittorio De Sica) too serious to be dismissed by her husband. Oph?ls is rather cool toward these characters, as if he pities their shallow fa?ades. Madame is less overwhelmed by passion than enthralled by the idea of love: it's only in the absence of her attentive lover that her perfect comportment collapses, while her husband is propelled into action more by social expectation than jealousy. Oph?ls's camera dances through the decor while watching the doomed game play out at a distance, capturing a culture of courtly manners petrified into meaningless ritual. --Sean AxmakerArt House & International VHS Video
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