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IMPORTED 35MM PRINT!
Not to be missed on any account, especially in this 35mm print from Europe. Peter Wollen (who co-wrote Antonioni's THE PASSENGER) once claimed that Ophüls' only Italian work is the greatest film in the history of cinema; perhaps not, but it really is something. Acid and opulent, LA SIGNORA DI TUTTI opens as a famous star is put under anaesthetic after a suicide attempt. Flashbacks reveal the events leading to her desperate act, centering on a disastrous relationship with an older man. Isa Miranda, diva of Thirties Italian cinema, plays the actress Gaby Doriot as a relative of both Lulu and Lola (in PANDORA'S BOX and THE BLUE ANGEL, respectively), but, true to Ophüls' world, she is more trapped than entrapping. “A masterpiece . . . As usual in Ophüls' best films, the main course is the sauce. The intoxicating tracking shots, the long takes, the heavily charged decor, the evocative use of music, and the musical quality of the editing - characteristics of the director's later, better-known films - are already here in force” (Film Comment). “One of Ophüls' best films” (Richard Roud).
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