Madame DuBarry (1919)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Ernst Lubitsch

Writers:

Norbert Falk (writer)
Hanns Kräly (writer)

Release Date:

27 September 1920 (Finland)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Dramatic! Beauty! Splendor! (1928 re-issue poster)

Plot:

The story of Madame DuBarry, the mistress of Louis XV of France, and her loves in the time of the French revolution. |

Plot Keywords:

French Revolution | Mistress | 1700s | King Louis XV | Marie Jeanne Bécu Du Barry

Cast

Pola Negri	...	Jeanne Vaubernier - later Madame Dubarry
Emil Jannings	...	König Louis XV
Harry Liedtke	...	Armand De Foix
Eduard von Winterstein	...	Graf Jean Dubarry
Reinhold Schünzel	...	Minister Choiseul
Else Berna	...	Graefin Gramont
Fred Immler	...	Richelieu
Gustav Czimeg	...	Aiguillon
Karl Platen	...	Guillaume Dubarry
Bernhard Goetzke	...	Revolutionär
Magnus Stifter	...	Don Diego
Paul Biensfeldt	...	Lebel
Willy Kaiser-Heyl	...	Oberst der Wache
Alexander Ekert	...	Paillet (as Alexander Eckert)
Robert Sortsch-Pla

Also Known As:

Passion

Runtime:

85 min | 113 min (20 fps)

Country:

Germany

Color:

Black and White (tinted)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (original rating) | Finland:K-16 (re-rating)

Filming Locations:

Sans-Souci, Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany

Company:

Projektions-AG Union (PAGU)

Movie Connections:

Featured in Ernst Lubitsch in Berlin - Von der Schönhauser Allee nach Hollywood (2006) (V)

Ponderous epic of Louis' XV' mistress- her rise and fall

Like Norma Shearer's MARIE ANTOINETTE almost twenty years later, this is an attempt to tell a rags to riches tale set in the last years of the French aristocracy. We see Jeanne rise from milliner to mistress of all who would have her, finally married to her protector's brother so she could become the king's favorite. Negri and Jannings do well as Du Barry and Louis XV but this is no intimate drama so it lacks character development and depth. Jeanne, it seems, is ever faithful to her first love, the student, Armand, and looks out for him unbeknownst of course, only to be shamed when he learns who his benefactress really is. So like a man!

Negri is early in her career and far from the subtle actress she would later become. She is so heavily made up that she is often rather grotesque. Jannings always pulls off a characterization with professional aplomb but here he has little to do until his death scene, where he pulls out the stops. There is a lot of posturing and it tries quite well to give us a history lesson - although it succeeds, it is dullsville along the way.

The lavish and elaborate art direction is worthy of award consideration. Don't seek this out unless you are a fan of the two leads, the director or the subject matter.

Note: that same year Lubitsch would "go mad" and find his niche with the delightfully funnny OYSTER PRINCESS. While that film is also worthy of art direction honors, it is Lubitsch's marvelous directorial touches that deserve as high a consideration.