Madame Du Barry
1919 Historical / Drama
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Credits
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Summary
Jeanne, a young Parisian milliner, gives up her beloved Armand to start
an affair with the nobleman Du Barry and begin a career as a
courtesan. King Louis XV decides to take her as his mistress, but
first she must have a title, so she marries the brother of
Du Barry. As Madame Du Barry, Jeanne becomes the most powerful
woman in France, but she is resented by the ordinary folk of
Paris. Her greatest enemy is her jilted lover Armand, who has
every intention of destroying her if he can. In the revolution of
1789, he has the opportunity to do just that...
Review
Mention the name Ernst Lubitsch and most people immediately bring to
mind the director’s energetic, highly entertaining romantic comedies of
the 1930s and 1940s. But there is another Lubitsch who, early in
his career, made several big budget silent epics, of which Madame Du
Barry is one of the most memorable. The film stars two of
Europe’s leading actors at the time, Pola Negri and Emil Jannings,
playing respectively the ill-fated Madame Du Barry and King Louis XV of
France. The film has been condemned for its obvious historical inaccuracies, with events which took place over several years appearing to happen in a matter of hours - for example, the death of Louis XV is almost immediately followed by the storming of the Bastille. Lubitsch’s intention is clearly not historical accuracy but rather to tell, in the manner of a Greek tragedy, an intimate story recounting the remarkable rise and fall of one of the most well-known victims of the French revolution. Whilst the film is perhaps somewhat weak when it comes to characterisation, with several characters poorly delineated, it has production values which are exceptional for a film of this era. The eye-catching lavish sets and stylish cinematography come close to matching the excellence of D.W. Griffith's historical masterpieces. Most impressive are the spectacular final sequences, which convey a real sense of France descending into bloody anarchy as Madame Guillotine claims her most glamorous victim. No contemporary French filmmaker would dared to have portrayed the French revolution in such a vividly negative light, in a way that draws a clear parallel with the recent Bolshevik uprisings in Russia. © James Travers 2008 For World Cinema on DVD...
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