France
1952
97 minutes
Black and White
1.33:1
French
444
Roving with his dazzlingly mobile camera around the decadent ballrooms, bucolic countryside retreats, urban bordellos, and painter’s studios of late nineteenth-century French life, Max Ophuls brings his astonishing visual dexterity and storytelling bravura to this triptych of tales by Guy de Maupassant about the limits of spiritual and physical pleasure. Featuring a stunning cast of French stars (including Danielle Darrieux, Jean Gabin, and Simone Simon), Le plaisir pinpoints the cruel ironies and happy compromises of life with a charming and sophisticated breeziness.
| The doctor | Claude Dauphin |
| Denise | Gaby Morlay |
| Julia Tellier | Madeleine Renaud |
| Madame Flora | Ginette Leclerc |
| Madame Rosa | Danielle Darrieux |
| Julien Ledentu | Pierre Brasseur |
| Joseph Rivet | Jean Gabin |
| L'ami de Jean (The voice of Guy de Maupassant) | Jean Servais |
| Jean | Daniel Gélin |
| Joséphine | Simone Simon |
| Director | Max Ophuls |
| Based on three stories by | Guy de Maupassant |
| Adaptation by | Jacques Natanson and Max Ophuls |
| Dialogue | Jacques Natanson |
| Music | Joe Hayos |
| Cinematography | Christian Matras and Philippe Agostini |
| Sets | Jean d'Eaubonne |
| Assistant director | Jean Valère and Tony Abboyantz |
| Costumes | Georges Annenkov |
| Editing | Léonide Azar |
Though we fully expected our special edition of Max Ophuls’s long-unavailable The Earrings of Madame de . . . to garner a lot of attention from movie lovers everywhere (this is, after all, the film that elder statesman Andrew . . .
Max Ophuls acquired an enviable reputation both on-screen and behind the scenes. Most actors, male or female, loved him, and if technicians complained of the amount of work necessitated by . . .
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