VHS : The Earrings of Madame De...
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starring: Charles Boyer, Danielle Darrieux, Vittorio De Sica, Jean Debucourt, Jean Gallanddirected by: Max Ophüls
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786303184210
Format: Black & White, NTSC
ISBN: 6303184219
Label: Hollywood Select Video
Manufacturer: Hollywood Select Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Hollywood Select Video
Release Date: July 15, 1994
Running Time: 105 minutes
Sales Rank: 16278
Studio: Hollywood Select Video
Theatrical Release Date: July 19, 1954
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com essential video:
Considered by many critics to be Max Ophüls'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 Ophüls, 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. Ophüls is rather cool toward these characters, as if he pities their shallow façades. 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. Ophüls'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 Axmaker
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Even great movies can be unsatisfactory
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 ... Read More
Rating:  - A cassic only in vhs
This great Ophuls film has the distinction of being one of the early classics with no dvd(US version). So only if you have a vcr can you home view it. It is almost worth buying one .FPB Ann Arbor
Rating: - The Circularity of Life
Max Ophul's The Earrings of Madame De... is an essential film. Filled with Ophul's magical camara work and fine performances all around it is a film to be watched and cherished by all serious film goers.
The film tells the story of a love triangle between Madame de (Danielle Darrieux), her husband (Charles Boyer) and an Itallian diplomat (Vittorio de Sica). On its face its a soap opera plain and simple but if one goes beyond the surface, the film is a play on the upper crust morals ... Read More
Rating: - LOVE AND HONOUR
I first saw this movie in a dubbed version on the local CBC station. (One of the benefits of living in a border town with Canada.) At first I was put off because it seemed to be about the foibles of a rich, silly woman. But then the camera work drew me in. I'd never seen a camera move so beautifully. It wasn't like watching a movie at all but rather eavesdropping on its characters. Then suddenly this silly woman changes and the movie got darker and the characters more and more complex. At ... Read More
Rating: - One of Max Ophuls most elegant and saddest films, with superb performances by Boyer, Darrieux and De Sica
What a sad, elegant film this is. The Earrings of Madame de... takes us into the fin de siecle Parisian world of the mannered rich, where the act of amorous intimacy is as much an expected social obligation as it is a personal pleasure, where a serious discussion about serious things is considered as indiscrete as loving one's spouse.
"Madame de... is a most elegant lady," we are told, "distinguished, received everywhere. She seemed destined to a delightful, untroubled existence. Doubtless ... Read More
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