Overview
A witty exploration of love and friendship unfolds in the City of Light.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Mild
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- None
- witty
- sophisticated
- flirtatious
- classic movie night
- date night
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as an entertaining, sophisticated, and unusually progressive pre-Code romantic comedy, while acknowledging that its adaptation can feel less graceful than its source.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Gilda proposes living with Tom and George under a nonsexual gentleman's agreement, making the three-way relationship the film's central experiment.
The film treats erotic competition, cohabitation, and sexual boundaries with unusually direct comic candor for 1933 Hollywood.
Lubitsch's Parisian setting, Hecht's clever dialogue, and the shifting triangle produce an elegant, fast-moving farcical register.
The film's risqué situations are shaped through sly humor, implication, and social performance rather than graphic depiction.
Films like Design for Living, and why
Trouble in Paradise
sophisticated romantic comedy built around unconventional desire, witty dialogue, and social transgression
The Lady Eve
pre-Code romantic comedy with a stylish love triangle, urbane banter, and fluid sexual politics
Designing Woman
charming ensemble romantic comedy about nontraditional relationships and competing romantic loyalties
Movie Details
- Director
- Ernst Lubitsch
- Release Date
- 1933-12-29
- Runtime
- 91 min
- Rating
- 7.1 / 10 (217)
Cast
- Fredric March
- Miriam Hopkins
- Gary Cooper
- Edward Everett Horton
- Franklin Pangborn
- Isabel Jewell
- Jane Darwell
- Wyndham Standing
- Cosmo Kyrle Bellew
- Lionel Belmore
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- fuboTV
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Design for Living about?
- A witty pre-Code romantic farce follows a free-spirited woman who tests whether friendship, art, and desire can coexist between two rival creators.
- What is Design for Living like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Design for Living as brisk, its intensity as mild and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is Design for Living violent?
- No — Ember's analysis finds no violence in Design for Living.
- What did critics think of Design for Living?
- Critics broadly regard the film as an entertaining, sophisticated, and unusually progressive pre-Code romantic comedy, while acknowledging that its adaptation can feel less graceful than its source.
- Which films are like Design for Living?
- Films with a similar feel include Trouble in Paradise, The Lady Eve, and Designing Woman.
- How long is Design for Living?
- Design for Living runs 91 minutes.
- Where can I watch Design for Living?
- In United States, Design for Living streams on fuboTV.
