La Signora Di Tutti

According to Andrew Sarris, La Signora Di Tutti

“is the only film Ophuls ever made in Italy, and in the bravura directness of its acting it is unique in an oeuvre characterized everywhere else by the subdued and subtle effects of the performances.... But though La Signora Di Tutti stands somewhat alone as Ophuls's Italian Rhapsody, its fragmented flashback structure... clearly foreshadows... Tendre Ennemie, Letter From An Unknown Woman, and Lola Montes...

“Seen in retrospect, Isa Miranda's full-bodied and warm-blooded incarnation of Gaby Doriot should have been hailed as one of the iconographical landmarks of the Thirties...

“In La Signora Di Tutti, Ophuls attains a degree of formal ecstasy that would have attracted more attention in the Thirties if its subject had been more fashionable. As it is, the plot of La Signora Di Tutti, even with its intricate flashback structure and symbolic ellipses, seems at first glance to be a typical example of the ‘white telephone' bourgeois dramas of the fascist era. The opening shots establish all the premises of the plot with only the most rudimentary dramatic exposition. Gaby Doriot is a movie star at the peak of her popularity with the public and in the depth of despair in her private life.”

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