After the Action Horror thrills of Blind Woman's Curse (1970-also reviewed) I decided to check for other DVDs/ Blu-Ray's that I've been meaning to watch. Picking up this DVD a few years ago around Christmas,I felt it was time to play Gaby's record.
View on the film:
For their 100th presentation, Masters Of Cinema unveil a great transfer, with the pristine soundtrack and smooth print being backed by informative, detailed extras.
Laying on the cold steel hospital operating table comfortably numb after attempting to end her life,Isa Miranda gives an exquisite performance,in what was then only her third credit,as Gabby, whose current starry eye status as a celebrity is cracked by Miranda with subtle facial expressions and brittle body language, which perfectly captures the grinding down of optimism from Gabby's marked with deaths life.
Feeling a magnetic desire towards siren Gabby, Memo Benassi gives a great performance as Leonardo, whose passions for Gabby triggers the accidental death of his wife, which reverberates over the event looming over Gabby's life like a ghost.
Twirling from a record playing the last notes of Gabby's life, to the studio head, agents attempting to figure out how to keep their biggest star comfortably numb in order to be in working condition for the next big money making project, co-writer (with Curt Alexander & Hans Wilhelm) / directing auteur Max Ophuls closely works with cinematographer Ubaldo Arata and editor Ferdinando Maria Poggioli to compose poetry in motion across Gabby's life.
Sailing through the haze of Gabby under anesthetic towards an extended flashback, Ophuls brings into focus an immaculate, ultra-stylised, doom-laden Melodrama atmosphere, via long tracking shots towards Gabby's school days, which lands on a tragic romance which seeps across the rest of Gabby's life via mesmerizing superimpositions, gliding distorted shots, (reflecting the distortion of Gabby's image) stark, beautiful close-ups, and long panning shots down the shadows of death surrounding Gabby.
Adapting Salvatore Gotta's novel, the writers unveil a silky character study Melodrama, (a genre which Ophuls would explore across his credits) where the fragmented flashbacks and flashbacks within flashback superbly build a avalanche of tragedy which gradually builds up until the mass of heart break and death lands on Gabby.
View on the film:
For their 100th presentation, Masters Of Cinema unveil a great transfer, with the pristine soundtrack and smooth print being backed by informative, detailed extras.
Laying on the cold steel hospital operating table comfortably numb after attempting to end her life,Isa Miranda gives an exquisite performance,in what was then only her third credit,as Gabby, whose current starry eye status as a celebrity is cracked by Miranda with subtle facial expressions and brittle body language, which perfectly captures the grinding down of optimism from Gabby's marked with deaths life.
Feeling a magnetic desire towards siren Gabby, Memo Benassi gives a great performance as Leonardo, whose passions for Gabby triggers the accidental death of his wife, which reverberates over the event looming over Gabby's life like a ghost.
Twirling from a record playing the last notes of Gabby's life, to the studio head, agents attempting to figure out how to keep their biggest star comfortably numb in order to be in working condition for the next big money making project, co-writer (with Curt Alexander & Hans Wilhelm) / directing auteur Max Ophuls closely works with cinematographer Ubaldo Arata and editor Ferdinando Maria Poggioli to compose poetry in motion across Gabby's life.
Sailing through the haze of Gabby under anesthetic towards an extended flashback, Ophuls brings into focus an immaculate, ultra-stylised, doom-laden Melodrama atmosphere, via long tracking shots towards Gabby's school days, which lands on a tragic romance which seeps across the rest of Gabby's life via mesmerizing superimpositions, gliding distorted shots, (reflecting the distortion of Gabby's image) stark, beautiful close-ups, and long panning shots down the shadows of death surrounding Gabby.
Adapting Salvatore Gotta's novel, the writers unveil a silky character study Melodrama, (a genre which Ophuls would explore across his credits) where the fragmented flashbacks and flashbacks within flashback superbly build a avalanche of tragedy which gradually builds up until the mass of heart break and death lands on Gabby.