Madame Dubarry (1919) Ernst Lubitsch unknowingly kickstarts the modern biopic (Review)

Ernst Lubitsch isn’t remembered for the silent work which Eureka’s Masters of Cinema is concerning themselves with, his name carries traction from his dramatic comedies of the 1930s and 40s (To be or not to be, Trouble in Paradise). Madame Dubarry predates this and the boom era of the silent era, the 1920s. Credit to Eureka for plucking something with little in the way of cache, especially when set besides Lubitsch’s legendary stature as a director in Hollywood’s Golden Age, and giving it the platform of its own solo release – not double or tripled up as part of a boxset release. Furthermore, the print is as close to complete thanks to a 2001 Swiss restoration.

Jeanne (Bécu) Vaubernier, Comtesse du Barry (Madame Dubarry) was one of the victims in the French Revolution’s reign of Terror, Lubitsch, however, takes her story to its beginning as the employee of a Parisian hat-maker who acquires a taste for the aristocratic, a path that eventually sees her becoming the mistress of the then king, Louis XV. This iteration of the Madame Dubarry story is bordering on its centenary, and what makes that a singularly impressive feat is just how formally close it is to the biopic of 2014.

During the first hour of the film, Lubitsch sticks to the lightness of touch that would define his future Hollywood career. Silent cinema star Pola Negri moves from one relationship to the next, from one power figure to the next. With the sassy flirtation that would come to define the romantic comedies of the 1940s, this could be singled out as uncharacteristic in a 1919 historical biopic. Context does work in its favour, however. The rich lavishly and frivolously squander their wealth while the poor could barely afford to put bread on the table, something that saw the tables equalized in the most violent way imaginable. The first half has a lightness of touch while the second half is a weighty film defined by betrayal, manipulation, satire, death and execution. Conceptually, Madame Dubarry feels like two films bookending each other and it’s for that exact reason that the film works.

Pola Negri helps glue these two opposing films together – her star, her magnetism is pivotal in making this near 100-year-old cinematic artefact holds up to modern scrutiny. She carries the film just as well as Louise Brooks – the much more famous silent cinema leading lady – did. While it’s undoubtedly ‘her film’ she isn’t the only actor who brings her character to life in a way that denies the decay of time. Even though his acting skills were later dedicated to the Nazi regime, Emil Jannings embodies the oblivious self-privilege and arrogance that saw the French aristocracy implode, similar plaudits have to be granted to his love rival, Armand De Foix, Harry Liedtke, too.

While Lubitsch became well-known and respected for a body of work that defined the early sound era of cinema, it’s fascinating to see other facets of his talent. I can’t help but wonder what films Lubitsch may have brought to the world if he continued to pursue and develop the choices he started here. If he pursued the timeless and prototypical found in his telling of the French Revolution instead of the very “of its time” romantic Hollywood melodrama.

The package that Masters of Cinema put together is typically strong, the restoration used is Swiss thus the inter-titles are dual language, a presentational choice that takes a little while to come to terms with. Likewise, there are instances of a burned reel, unavoidable for something of its age but also un-ignorable. The on-disc supplementary content is a wonderful find in his the 1916 film, Als ich tot war [When I Was Dead], which stars the director in a lead role that involves his faked suicide and infiltration of the domestic space in disguise (as a servant). Madame Dubarry comes with a 36-page booklet that features all manner of commissions and essays on the film and Ernst Lubitsch. With the growing popularity of the silent film, Madame Dubarry is readily prepared for a whole new generation of fans to discover.

Thanks for reading our review of Madame Dubarry + Als ich tot war[When I Was Dead] 

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