Ophuls’s triumphant return to continental filmmaking after several years in Hollywood is generally considered one of his greatest masterpieces, and while it is certainly enjoyable, I can’t help but feel that it is little more than an aesthetically rigorous trifle. The film’s bed-hopping roundelay is self-consciously arch and the characters are little more than types, which is, of course, the point. Narrative fluffery aside, Ophuls’s compositions and long-take tracking shots are nothing short of sublime, but that’s to be expected. (DVD)