Playwright Fredric March and artist Gary Cooper both fall in love with Miriam Hopkins, an American living in Paris. Since Miriam cannot decide between the two men, the trio agree to try living together in a platonic friendly relationship.
beneath the sublime surface of Lubitsch's best films beats a human heart full of recognizable desires, fears, flaws, and longings, which is precisely what sets his work apart from its sleazier, more mundane counterparts
Even when Lubitsch filmed a play by Noel Coward, he still made it his own. Design for Living doesn't feel like a celebrated play; it feels like a Lubitsch movie.
A química entre o trio principal é ótima, mas o roteiro, livremente adaptado a partir de uma peça de Noel Coward, jamais aproveita o potencial de seus personagens.
Scene-Stealers.com
December 15, 2011
A daring movie that satirizes sexual mores and heaps irony upon irony. If Hollywood tried to remake this movie today, they would probably take the ménage à trois set-up and strip away all the depth.