- Film Review
- Reviewed By David Parkinson
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4 out of 5
Although Max Ophüls's penultimate film was Oscar-nominated for its costumes, it really should have brought him a direction award, as he sends his camera on a series of gliding shots around the luxurious haunts of the idle rich, revealing their every secret and laying bare their empty souls. Danielle Darrieux is the unnamed noblewoman of the title, whose precious earrings, which she has already sold, return to her via husband Charles Boyer's mistress and her own lover, Vittorio de Sica. The script is witty, the performances beyond sophistication. Deliciously blending Sacha Guitry's The Pearls of the Crown and Ophüls's own La Ronde, this is just about as polished as European cinema gets.
Plot Summary
Drama starring Danielle Darrieux and Charles Boyer. When a countess sells the valuable earrings which were a wedding gift from her husband, she sets off a chain of events that have tragic consequences.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Countess Louise De...
- Danielle Darrieux
- General André De...
- Charles Boyer
- Baron Fabrizio Donati
- Vittorio De Sica
- Madame De...'s nurse
- Mireille Perrey
- Monsieur Rémy, the jeweller
- Jean Debucourt
- Jérome, his son
- Serge Lecointe
- Lola, the general's mistress
- Lia Di Léo
- Monsieur De Bernac
- Jean Galland
- Henri De Maleville
- Hubert Noël
- Theatre manager
- Léon Walther
Crew
- Director
- Max Ophüls
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