The Earrings of Madame De... (1953) [The Criterion Collection]

Director: Max Ophüls
Writers: Louise de Vilmorin (novel), Marcel Achard (screenplay), Max Ophüls (screenplay)
Stars: Charles Boyer, Danielle Darrieux, Vittorio De Sica

The most cherished work from French master Max Ophuls, The Earrings of Madame De… is a profoundly emotional, cinematographically adventurous tale of deceptive opulence and tragic romance. When an aristocratic woman known only as Madame de… (Danielle Darrieux) sells a pair of earrings given to her by her husband (Charles Boyer) in order to pay some debts, she sets off a chain reaction of financial and carnal consequences that can end only in despair. Ophuls’s adaptation of Louise de Vilmorin’s incisive fin de siècle novel employs to ravishing effect the elegant and precise camera work for which the director is so justly renowned.

More in My Blog