Madame De...

A film by Max Ophüls

Max Ophüls' Madame de... was, according to film critic Andrew Sarris, "the most perfect film ever made." Nominated for an Oscar® in 1955, Madame de... displays the romance, irony and tragedy prevalent in so may of Ophüls' films.

When the aristocratic woman known only as Madame de sells the earrings given to her by her unsuspecting husband in order to pay personal debts, she sets off a chain reaction, the financial and carnal consequences of which can only end in despair. Travelling across Europe from husband to mistress, lover to wife, the hypocrisy and infidelity which exists beneath the veneer of respectability are skillfully exposed.

With his graceful camera work serving as an ironic counter to the rotten hypocrisy of his central characters, Max Ophüls once again proves why critics and filmmakers such as François Truffaut have labelled him "the best French filmmaker."

DVD Special Features

Audio Commentary by Adrian Martin, Senior Research Fellow, Film and Television Studies, Monash University and Co-editor of ROUGE magazine www.rouge.com.au
Working with Max Ophüls: interviews with Alain Jessua, Marc Frédérix and Annette Wademant