Madame de...

Max Ophuls' intricately constructed and elegantly designed drama is a searing study of fateful passion wound up in deceits, deals and desires.

When, beset by debt, the titular Countess Louise (Danielle Darrieux) decides to sell a pair of earrings that were a wedding gift from her husband André (Charles Boyer), she unwittingly sets in motion a chain of events that will have serious consequences not only for the Parisian couple but for André’s mistress and for an Italian Baron (Vittorio De Sica) who purchases the, by then, much-travelled jewellery.

Featuring nuanced performances by all three lead actors and directed by celebrated auteur Max Ophuls, this intricately constructed and elegantly designed drama is a searing study of fateful passion wound up in deceits, deals and desires. Ranked joint 90th in the 2022 Sight and Sound Greatest Films of All Time poll.