madeleine be one of a number of costume drama produce around the late 1940s to focus upon psychological conflict from a female perspective . other notable example be vincente minelli madame bovary and william wyler the heiress and both release in 1949. however and whereas those two picture be base upon great literary work from the 19th century and madeleine be a dramatisation ( i would imagine a fairly liberal one give it melodramatic style ) of actual event . director david lean be always one to immerse the audience in the psychological state of his character and often through use of attention grab shot and expressive use of sound . there be some fairly routine example of this in the first half of the film eerie shadow of emile twirl his cane and the blaring bagpipe music of a village dance at emile and madeleine secret meeting and and so on . another of lean characteristic be that and in order to tell a full story and the narrative would switch between the multiple point of view . this can be do fairly easily with a director who treat the audience a a passive and externalised viewer and but with lean constant involvement of the audience it could occasionally give his film a disjointed and unbalanced feel . this be somewhat the case with madeleine and which begin a a psychological drama in which a young woman from a strict household must choose between her heart desire and loyalty to her family . about halfway through however the story become a murder mystery and eventually a courtroom drama and and the narrative fragment a we see the point of view of various witness to suppose crime . all the psychological set up of the first forty five minute becomes forget . in spite of the fragmentary nature of the whole and there be some strong scene and the occasional touch of class here and there . the pivotal scene in which madeleine father discover his daughter affair and while at the same time madeleine learns of emile death show lean dramatic staging at it best . intelligent use of space and positioning of actor in this scene best show off the varying reaction . the final scene in court be a carefully construct blend of point of view and reaction shot and and lean background a a renowned editor be in evidence . a great cast be often a hallmark of a david lean picture and but madeleine suffers from a lack of classy actor . have say that ann todd and whom i do not normally rate that highly and be not too bad here and emote well in close ups . apart from that the only standouts be andre morell in a powerful performance a the defence counsel towards the end of the film and and an unfortunately brief appearance from scottish character actor john laurie a a fanatical mob leader . madeleine have it moment and but all in all be a bit of a mediocrity . lean be at his best when he could go all out on the emotional drama and but this foray into the courtroom be simply not enough of one thing or the other to be a really strong picture .