Madame DuBarry
About Madame DuBarry
Jeanne Vaubernier, a seamstress in Madame Labille's shop, is paired with the student Armand de Foix and flirts with the Spanish envoy Don Diego. Armand kills Diego in a duel and is arrested. Jeanne becomes the lover of Count Guillaume du Barry. When he is nearly bankrupt he sends her to the Duke of Choiseul, who refuses them money. Louis XV, played by Emil Jannings, sees her and makes her his mistress. She marries Guillaume's brother Jean so she can be presented at court as Countess du Barry. Armand, freed by her influence and made a palace lieutenant, watches troops fire on a crowd that hates the mistress, then recognizes her. He leaves, joins the shoemaker Paillet, and leads a rush on a bakery as bread prices and taxes rise. Soldiers arrest him. The film is in seven acts and carries the story into the Revolution.
Cast & crew
More about Madame DuBarry
Ernst Lubitsch directed. Norbert Falk and Hanns Kräly wrote it. Pola Negri plays Jeanne. Theodor Sparkuhl photographed it at Tempelhof. Kurt Richter designed the sets. The American release title is Passion. William Axt is credited with music on some records, for a later score rather than a 1919 track.
Themes
Background
The plot uses the last years of Louis XV and the hatred of du Barry that feeds the crowd scenes.
Look
Theodor Sparkuhl shot the Tempelhof sets of the shop, the court, and the bakery riot.
Notes
- Harry Liedtke plays Armand. Reinhold Schünzel, Bernhard Goetzke, and Paul Wegener are in the cast.
- The U.S. title is Passion.
Scenes
- Armand kills Don Diego in the shop and is arrested.
- Louis XV stops Jeanne in the street and takes her as mistress.
- Armand, now a lieutenant, recognizes her as the crowd is fired on.
