A classic

I really had no idea what to expect from this movie but since it was included in the '1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die' list, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, eventually, I really liked it and I thought it was much more enjoyable than 'Lola Montès', another classic from Max Ophüls which I saw already twice. The tricky thing with this director is that his movies are always visually so elaborate, they are always a marvel to look at, but, as a result, they might seem really superficial. In this case, the fact that it was dealing with the frivolous romances of the Aristocrats didn't help either. And, yet, even though I usually don't care much for this genre, this story did work very well. It mostly had to do with the stellar performances from Charles Boyer, Danielle Darrieux and Vittorio De Sica but their characters were also very well written. Indeed, they really evolved through this tale and I actually cared about what these characters were going through. I have to admit  that my rating might be slightly too harsh and I will probably re-watch it at some point. Anyway, to conclude, it really deserves its stellar reputation and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

7/10