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The Earrings of Madame de . . .

Madame de…

Year
1953
Director
Max Ophuls
Length
100 minCriterion presentation Version sources ↓

A pair of earrings passes through sale, gift, concealment, and return as an aristocratic marriage gives way to forbidden love.

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Language
French
RomanticBleak Great first watch · Easy
Original illustration: Oversized paper earrings, ballroom cards, red ribbon and mirror fragments beneath The Earrings of Madame de lettering.

Image: Monocurator · source · Original Monocurator artwork

What to expect

Max Ophuls turns circulating objects and gliding camera movement into emotional structure. The elegance never merely decorates the tragedy: social performance, money, and desire all travel through the same polished spaces.

How to ease in

Track the earrings each time they change hands and notice what story accompanies them. Their material value stays stable while their emotional meaning becomes increasingly dangerous.

Heads-up

A quick, non-exhaustive note Includes infidelity, financial distress, coercive marriage, duelling, emotional abuse, and death.
Momo's Note May contain spoilers Who is Momo? →
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The earrings seem tiny beside the ballrooms, yet they carry every secret more faithfully than the people do. I feel the tragedy tighten each time the same object returns with a different truth.

— Momo

Momo thinking about this film

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