Logo

Actress Who Starred in What Some Critics Say is One of the Best Movies of All Time Dies: Danielle Darrieux was 100

Oct 19, 2017  •  Post A Comment

“Danielle Darrieux, a prolific French actress whose movie and theater career spanned eight decades, has died,” reports the Associated Press. Darrieux was 100.

The obituary continues, “One of France’s best-loved actresses, Darrieux appeared in dozens of plays and more than 100 films during her long career. Generations of French moviegoers watched her mature from a precocious, fresh-faced teen into a radiant nonagenarian starring in films into her 90s.”

The story also notes that “Darrieux insisted she couldn’t bear to see herself onscreen and that the only one of her movies she enjoyed watching was Max Ophuls’ critically acclaimed 1953 ‘Madame de…[‘The Earrings of Madame de …’ in the U.S.], in which she played the eponymous heroine — a dazzling, adulterous countess.”

Andrew Sarris, the late, estimable movie critic, called “Madame de…” “the greatest film of all time.”

Sarris added, “If you don’t choose to take my word for the film’s sublimity, then heed the sagacious words of Dave Kehr instead: ‘Should the day ever come when movies are granted the same respect as the other arts, ‘The Earrings of Madame de …’ will instantly be recognized as one of the most beautiful things ever created by human hands. ‘Perfection,’ proclaimed the late Pauline Kael, in one of her more perceptive pronouncements…”

Danielle Darrieux in “The Earrings of Madame de…”

Your Comment

Email (will not be published)