| Release | Sep 16, 2008 |
| Video | Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 |
| Audio |
French: Dolby Digital 1.0 |
| Subtitles | English |
| Studio | Criterion |
| Year | 1952 |
| Genre | Drama, Comedy |
- Remastered Audio and Video (New, restored high-definition digital transfer)
- Introduction by filmmaker Todd Haynes (Far from Heaven, Velvet Goldmine)
- English & German-language versions of the opening narration
- From Script to Screen - a video essay featuring film scholar Jean-Pierre Berthomé discussing the evolution of Max Ophuls’s screenplay for Le plaisir
- Interviews with actor Daniel Gélin, assistant director Tony Aboyantz, and set decorator Robert Christidès
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A new essay by film critic Robin Wood
Made after the commercial success of La Ronde (1950), this multi-layered film from director Max Ophüls is an impressively fluid adaptation of three short stories by Guy De Maupassant:
(1) Le Masque
An old man wears a mask of youth at a dance hall to extend his youthful memories.
(2) La Maison Tellier
The Madam and her girls, from a small-town whore-house, on an outing to a village, visiting a ceremony of first communion.
(3) Le Modèle
An artist's model jumps from a window for love of an artist, who then marries her.
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 Ophüls 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 second film made by Ophüls in France after his return from Hollywood, Le Plaisir - (English translation: Pleasure) - was championed by Jean-Luc Godard as "the greatest film made in France since the Liberation."
(1) Le Masque
An old man wears a mask of youth at a dance hall to extend his youthful memories.
(2) La Maison Tellier
The Madam and her girls, from a small-town whore-house, on an outing to a village, visiting a ceremony of first communion.
(3) Le Modèle
An artist's model jumps from a window for love of an artist, who then marries her.
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 Ophüls 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 second film made by Ophüls in France after his return from Hollywood, Le Plaisir - (English translation: Pleasure) - was championed by Jean-Luc Godard as "the greatest film made in France since the Liberation."
Criterion
presents
Louis SeignerPaul AzaisSimone SimonDanielle DarrieuxClaude DauphinJean GabinGaby MorlayMadeleine RenaudGinette LeclercPierre BrasseurJean ServaisDaniel GélinMila ParélyHenri CremieuxRobert LombardPaulette Dubost"Le Plaisir: The Criterion Collection"
Written byJacques NatansonWritten byMax Ophulsproduced byM. Kieffer
produced byMax Ophuls
produced byEdouard Harispuru
directed byMax Ophuls
Production Year: 1952
Written byJacques NatansonWritten byMax Ophulsproduced byM. Kieffer
produced byMax Ophuls
produced byEdouard Harispuru
directed byMax Ophuls
Production Year: 1952
Details are based on information from various sources. We do everything we can to keep them as accurate as possible. However, errors occur so use this information at your own risk and remember to check the product itself before buying.
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[release]24651[/release]