Life in 1847 Paris is as spirited as champagne and as unforgiving as the gray morning after. In gambling dens and lavish soirees, men of means exert their wills and women turned courtesans exult in pleasure. One such woman is Marguerite Gautier, who begins a sumptuous romance with Armand Duval.
Greta Garbo Robert Taylor Lionel Barrymore Elizabeth Allan Jessie Ralph Henry Daniell Lenore Ulric Laura Hope Crews Rex O'Malley Lita Chevret E. E. Clive Elspeth Dudgeon Effie Ellsler Elsie Esmond Dorothy Granger Joan Leslie Gwendolyn Logan Eily Malyon Edwin Maxwell Ferdinand Munier Barry Norton Lionel Pape Frank Reicher Douglas Walton
A Dama das Camélias, Камелия, つばきひめ, La dama de las camelias, Margarita Gautier, Le roman de Marguerite Gautier, Le Roman de Marguerite Gautier, Die Kameliendame, Margherita Gauthier, 茶花女, קאמיל, A kaméliás hölgy, Дамата с камелиите, Kameliadamen, Дама с камелиями, 춘희, A Dama das Camélias, Dama su kamelijomis, 椿姫
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Garbo: True love isn't real!!! Love is a sham!!!
Me: I LOVE YOU BITCH I AIN'T EVER GONNA STOP LOVING YOU BITCH
Camille clearly belongs to Garbo who, as the lady of Camellias, runs away with the film. She was the film. The whole thing is worth watching just for her performance alone, which was more than outstanding. Greta Garbo just shines in this film.
(okay now that i’m done declaring my love for Garbo, let me continue crying in the corner because her performance towards the end fucked me up real good. please respect my privacy in this trying time.)
Director George Cukor's version of the 1848 novel La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas is a near-perfect work which is unaffected by the passage of time. It features Greta Garbo delivering a tour de force performance, an understated portrayal of a tragic and complicated Parisian prostitute named Marguerite Gautier, and is excellently rounded out by a competent supporting cast which contains Robert Taylor and Lionel Barrymore. Its the most stylish screen adaptation of the novel with plenty of elegance in design and some incredibly gorgeous compositions which showcases the artistic principles of Hollywood studio production wonderfully.
Honestly one of the best performances by anyone I’ve ever seen. Garbo has my heart with this one.
I was afraid this was going to turn out to be just a heavy and dreary melodrama, but I think George Cukor’s light touch perfectly balances the dramatic love story with the 19th century Parisian decadence. The lively parties are especially fun to watch. Greta Garbo is really great here, and she shines in an otherwise dull romance with Robert Taylor.
3.3/5
Marguerite really said, “I’m here for a good time not a long time” and then she wasn’t here for either.
Camille has all the classic ingredients of a movie that should not age well:
1. It’s based on a 19th-century popular romance novel
2. It’s got ye-olde-fashioned gender politics
3. It’s a period/costume drama
4. It’s a melodrama
But Camille still stands out way ahead in terms of 30s romantic tragedies. It has a relatively modern, casual, and relaxed feel, despite the elements that would attempt to date it. On top of that, it's absolutely beautiful to look at, with sumptuous black-and-white cinematography, show-stopping Adrian gowns, extravagant sets, and of course . . . Garbo.
I've read Dumas' La Dame…
Greta Garbo is good here, but this thing drags like there’s no tomorrow. It’s a melancholy melodrama with unremarkable characters and an unmemorable plot. George Cukor directs proficiently, but he supposedly intended to make this film feel different from other costume dramas — a task he does not achieve, as it’s pretty indistinguishable from so many other movies like it.
The wiser heads of cinema have designated this one as a career highlight for Greta Garbo, citing a highly-praised performance that was well-noted by contemporary critics. Camille packs mystique in its background from a historical perspective, that's for sure. Legendary producer Irving Thalberg died suddenly in his late 30s towards the end of production, and it's said that this hit Garbo particularly hard. Equally legendary director George Cukor is at the helm, and tried to incorporate elements of his own mother's recent death into the film's ending scene (though studio execs ended up cutting those elements). With all of this extracurricular drama, the story of Camille as one of the great films is there to be told. The real tragedy…
