Le Plaisir
 | Directed by Max Ophuls Starring: Jean Gabin, Simone Simon, Danielle Darrieux Criterion Collection, 1952, DVD |
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Roving with his dazzlingly mobile camera around the decadent ballrooms, bucolic countryside retreats, urban bordellos, and painter's studios of late nineteenth-century Parisian society, 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. SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:New, restored high-definition digital transfer, Introduction by filmmaker Todd Haynes, English- and German-language versions of the opening narration, From Script to Screen, a video essay featuring film scholar Jean-Pierre Berthome discussing the evolution of Ophuls's screenplay for Le plaisir, Interviews with actor Daniel Gelin, assistant director Tony Aboyantz, and set decorator Robert Christides, New and improved English subtitle translation. PLUS: A new essay by film critic Robin Wood.
Title: Le Plaisir
Sales Rank: 19448 in DVD
Actor: Jean Gabin, Simone Simon, Danielle Darrieux
Director: Max Ophuls
Studio: Criterion Collection, 2008-09-16, Theatrical Release: 1952
Format: Black & White, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled, Acpect Ratio 1.33:1
Languages: English (Subtitled), French (Original Language)
Audience Rating: Unrated
Region Code: 1
Running Time: 97 minutes
Package Dimensions: 7.1 x 5.42 x 0.58 inches, 0.18 pounds
- What a pleasure!
- (I can't resist) LE PLAISIR is a pleasure. It's brilliant.
Director Max Ophuls transferred 3 Guy de Maupassant stories (set circa the late 1800s) to the screen while retaining an amazingly strong sense of their literary source.
The 3 stories are a wry look at love. They're not for those people "in love with love". They're for and about cynical,… More reviews
- Ophüls' Swirling Lesson in Pleasure.
- It was a happy day when I learned Criterion was finally releasing Max Ophüls' three great films, La Ronde, Le Plaisir, and Earrings of Madame de.... Ophüls is celebrated for his brilliant tracking shots and elaborate camera movements (which influenced Stanley Kubrick). He is also revered for his sparkling, Oscar-nominated black-and-white French comedy/drama, Le Plaisir (1952), which is nothing short of truly… More reviews
- Another classic from Ophüls
- This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.
Le Plaisir, meaning "pleasure" is a film based on three stories by Guy de Maupassant. Le Masque, La Maison Tellier, and Le Modèle.
In the first story, Le Masque, an elderly man hides his age with a mask and goes to a ball and dances energetically with a woman and he later falls… More reviews
- Max Ophuls' marvelous film of pleasure and, perhaps, love
- The screen is pitch black and we hear a voice..."I'm so happy to be talking in the dark as if I were beside you, and maybe I am." The speaker is Guy de Maupassant (voiced by Jean Marais), and Le Plaisir is three of his stories filmed by the great director Max Ophuls. The connecting thread? That pleasure, or even love, lies in how people intermingle their lives, with a shrug,… More reviews
