Cebalord Very best movie i ever watch

Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

Pluskylang Great Film overall

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

gavin6942 A society lady (Maria Casarès) engineers a marriage between her lover (Paul Bernard) and a cabaret dancer (Élina Labourdette) who is essentially a prostitute.Not to say the acting isn't great or the direction isn't wonderful... because they both are. But this really comes down to a great script. This is the sort of bait and switch comedy that the French were great at. Diderot, Voltaire, Beaumarchais... there is a music to their writing that I have never found in any other nation's literature.This translates fairly well to the screen, and is a great farce about social standing and romance. Now, whether Agnes is a prostitute or not, I don't know. Although she clearly was in the original story, some say she is not in the film. Regardless, the humor of the comedy remains the same.

christopher-underwood There is much to enjoy in this simple tale of the wrath of a woman scorned, but 'timeless', 'masterpiece' or 'spellbinding', I rather think not. It is beautifully shot with memorable performances and an effective if barely believable dialogue. Early on the power and determination evidenced by a mere look from Maria Casares does give one hope that this might have the power of a vintage Bunuel. Unfortunately, for me, Bresson is far more interested in humiliation and misogyny than real passion and convincing evil. I know allowances have to be made for the passing time and changes morals but surely even within the movie as it stands little really adds up. Something of infatuation is illustrated but where is the wonderful portrayal of deep love that some strange folk detect?

dbdumonteil Till 1950,Robert Bresson used professional actors.This explains why those previous movies are much more accessible -and thus generally overlooked by the "true" RB connoisseurs ,this naive audience who is still thinking that French cinema did begin with him;this mindless belief was fueled by the director himself whose contempt for his colleagues was notorious ...And like it or not,It's one of his colleagues,Marcel Carné ,who provided Bresson with his star Maria Casarès,who was featured in the absolute chef-d'oeuvre of our French cinema "Les Enfants Du Paradis" .She played the part of Natalie and was not overshadowed by Arletty,which was quite a feat! In "les Dames...",Casares was extraordinary: in her last scenes ,when she spits her hate ,her contempt and when she savors her vengeance as she says :"You've married a hooker! I had you marry a hooker!" ,she mesmerizes her audience.After her lover had left her,she really became a spider spinning her web in which the two women and her ex would be caught up.Jean Cocteau wrote the dialog.Maria Casarès would become one of his favorite actresses:"Orphée" and "Le Testament d'Orphée".

writers_reign Movies that are pre-sold as 'classic', 'masterpiece', etc nearly always have a tough row to hoe to live up to the hype. I've seen only a handful of Bresson movies and the only one I am happy to concede is a masterpiece is Au Hasard, Balthazar, the others are just a heavy mixture of the static and the obscure. This is no exception. Throughout I had the feeling I was watching cyphers rather than real people. There seemed to be no real reason for 1) a popular prostitute to quit the profession and 2) accept the largesse of another woman. The fact that the prostitute is the least-likely looking hooker that ever came down the Pike is another factor as is her mother's acquiescence/acceptance. The air of unreality doesn't help much either if anybody asks you. Strange to think that when a far superior film, the Carne-Prevert Les Portes de la nuit, tried to mix fantasy with realism within months of this entry it was laughed off the screen and took several years to be acknowledged as the gem it is. This is one to see if you're a Bresson completist otherwise give it plenty of room.