An opulent drama unfolds around a pair of diamond earrings. A strange premise, but the story told is one of heightened emotion, love and loss. The depth of tragedy here is a counter play to the lavish opulence of the setting.
Louise is a Countess who, unbeknownst to her husband, has incurred some debt and decides to sell some diamond earrings back to the jeweller her husband bought them off. Whilst at the opera, she lies and says that she has lost them that night. A theft is suspected and reported in the newspaper. In an effort to avoid scandal, the jeweller returns the earrings to the General and explains what has happened. The General buys back the earrings and instead of returning them to his wife and confronting her, he gives them to his mistress who is leaving to live in Constantinople. She gambles them away and they end up in a pawn brokers where they are bought by Baron Donati, an Italian diplomat. Back in Paris, Donati spies Louise at the train station where she is paying some duty on imported dresses. He falls for her and fate throws them together twice more, before he finally meets up with her at a ball and they begin a dim fated romance.
This is a masterpiece of cinematography. Magnificent tracking shots are choreographed rather than merely directed by Max Ophüls. One dance between Louise and Donati is cut with time elapse to tell the story of their brief romance with great effect. Simple notes in their conversation change. He asks about her husband; she remarks on her husband's health and eventually The General is forgotten altogether.
The earrings act as punctuation to the acts of the story and this is done with great effect as is the anonymity of The Countess.
It's not all doom and gloom though. This tragedy of errors does have some nice comic touches in some incidental characters. The valets at the opera; the jeweller's son; the guardsmen at the barracks. Just light little touches that bring a strong balance to the piece.
