Max Ophüls

(On Cable TV, July 2021) A familiar story told in an off-beat fashion, Madame de… takes us to late-nineteenth-century Paris for a complex tale of a woman, her distant husband and her lover. It all takes place through the intriguing device of earrings making their way from one character to another through unlikely devices and ironic transactions. Lavishly photographed with impressive sets and some impressive costumes, it’s a romance with more than an ironic twist, with plenty of plot machinations from writer-director Max Ophüls to keep things interesting. The dialogue is often a joy to hear as it pokes and prods at the heart of the story. As a romance, it’s more performative than emotive — it’s interesting to watch, but it’s not as if we’re meant to identify with the characters. Still, Madame de… has an intricate way of telling a familiar story, with layers of complexity (visual and narrative) adding interest to something that could have been much more conventional.