Venice. Gaston Monescu is a small-time crook who just robbed a certain Mr. Filiba while pretending to be a doctor. He meets Lily, who is also a crook who wanted to rob him, and they fall in love. Some time later, Gaston and Lily are in Paris, where an ultra-rich woman, Mariette Colet, catches their attention, so they steal her diamond purse in an opera. However, when Mariette offers a stunning 20,000 francs reward, Gaston goes to her mansion and returns her bag, feigning that he found it somewhere. Upon hearing that she has over a 100,000 francs in her safe, he manages to persuade Mariette to hire him as her secretary, planning to rob her in a few weeks. Mariette and Gaston fall in love, but he decides to escape when he stumbles upon Mr. Filiba again. In the end, Gaston departs with Lily, but not before she stole Mariette's purse.
This shining comedy by the cinematic maestro Ernst Lubitsch is today rightfully regarded as a classic, since the director crafted a funny, intelligent, emotional, cultured, elevated, wise... In short, an all-encompassing achievement that operates on a high comic level, while at the same time enriching the American cinema world with the 'European flair'. It takes some long 20 minutes for Lubitsch to finally prepare his set-up, but it is worth the wait since once he does, the storyline flows smoothly and has a meticulous structure. Lubitsch, just like his disciple B. Wilder, is first and foremost a writer—not a director—and thus puts all the focus only on the story, the characters and the dialogues, neglecting cinematic techniques almost entirely, settling only for the conventional, classic camera shots, yet when the former ingredients are so delicious, nothing else matters. The culture clash between the small-time crook Gaston and the ultra-rich Mariette—which subtly mirrors the contradiction of the rich and the poor during the Great Depression of that epoch— is one of the building blocks for the film's humor: upon returning her diamond purse, the bewildered Gaston is flabbergasted by Mariette's mansion and enters the bedroom, spotting an expensive 18th century bed. He is even more surprised when Mariette says this: "Oh, I got tired of sleeping in antiques, so I gave this bed to my secretary!" Mariette is so carefree she then goes on to the safe on the wall and starts unlocking it, while Gaston is right behind her, staring greedily at the safe and holding up his hand to imagine operating the combination of numbers.
"Trouble in Paradise" is filled with endlessly quotable lines, which sound like music to the film buffs ear. In one scene, for instance, Lily is jealous at Mariette, but Gaston ensures her: "As far as I'm concerned, her whole sex-appeal is in that safe!" However, Lubitsch is also highly inspired in numerous visual, 'common sense' jokes. For instance, Mariette has two annoying suitors, the Major and Mr. Filiba. During a preparation for the dinner, the Major prepares the guest list and places the paper with his name right next to Mariette's plate—but puts the paper with the name "Filiba", of his rival, far away from her, at the end of the table, just in case. In the opening segment in Venice, Mr. Filiba was also robbed by Gaston who was in disguise, but meets him later in the film again, in Paris, yet cannot remember from where he knows him. Until there is a scene in which Mr. Filiba puts a cigarette in an ashtray in the form of a gondola and has a sudden 'association realization'—this is superior humor. Another great moment involves the clock montage, in which the camera is only displaying the clock all the time, while all the lines are heard off screen (Lily departing from Gaston at 5:00; Mariette asking Gaston to go have dinner with her already at 5:13; the night shot of Mariette asking Gaston to spend more time with her after a dance at 10:45 PM...), yet they illustrate the gradual growth of affection between Gaston and Mariette without showing anything, which is genius. Needles to say, Miriam Hopkins and Kay Francis were terribly underrated actresses, and it is great to see them shine in this edition. A very sympathetic and genuine film, yet only true masters can take the most complicated and difficult ingredients and make them seem like they were the easiest thing to do—which is obvious in the fact that the film seems simple, yet very few directors have managed to make something like it.
Grade:+++
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