Film Review
After a successful but artistically frustrating stint in Hollywood,
where he crafted such films as the memorable melodrama
Letter from an Unknown Woman
(1948) and the moody film noir drama
The Reckless Moment (1949),
director Max Ophüls returned to France to make the four films for
which he is now best known, four auteur masterpieces which
overshadow both his American films and those which he made in Germany
before WWII. The first of these was
La Ronde, an inspired and
exceedingly tongue-in-cheek adaptation of the scandalous stage play
Reigen by the
Austrian playwright Arthur Schnitzler, which was intended to satirise
the class-dodging sexual habits of Viennese society at the turn of the
20th century. The same play would subsequently be adapted by
Roger Vadim as
La Ronde
(1964), with very little of the charm and stylistic brilliance with
which Ophüls's film is endowed and which has made it a timeless
classic.
Through a series of dovetailing love vignettes, all short but
beautifully formed, Ophüls transforms Schnitzler's play into a
poignant reflection on the ephemeral nature of love which is both
melancholic and humorous. With a cast-list that is made up of
some of the most distinguished French actors of the period, the film
could hardly fail to be a commercial success - it drew an audience of
over two and half million in France, in spite of some harsh reviews
from the critics, who saw little merit in it at the time. The
film's success in France created a short-lived fad for similar
anthology films, effectively collections of short films linked by a
common theme, almost invariably featuring a star-studded cast.
The subject matter and structure of
La
Ronde gave Ophüls far more creative freedom than he had
enjoyed previously and this allowed him to develop his idiosyncratic
visual style, which is characterised by its beautiful chiaroscuro
lighting and highly fluid camera work. There is something of the
elegance of a Viennese waltz in the way the camera tracks endlessly
across the elaborate sets, reinforcing the carousel motif which
Ophüls uses brilliantly to connect the ten perfectly rounded
vignettes which make up the film. Few other directors have
exploited the potential of the long take and the mobile camera as
masterfully as Ophüls did in this and his three following French
films:
Le Plaisir (1952),
Madame
de... (1953) and
Lola Montès (1955).
La Ronde's other great
stylistic touch is the inclusion of a God-like master of ceremonies,
played with devastating élan by Anton Walbrook. The latter
not only links the various stories but also plays an active part in
some of them, fulfilling the role of commentator, confidante and
Cupid. Walbrook's enigmatic character allows Ophüls to
indulge in a humorous spot of fourth wall demolition (making it as much
a commentary on the fraught art of filmmaking as anything else) whilst
giving the film a satisfying coherence which subsequent portmanteau
films lacked. When things get a little too steamy, we are
instantly snatched away from the bedroom to see Walbrook mournfully
cutting up reels of film - a wry reference to the studio censorship
that blighted Ophüls's time in Hollywood. Another effective
linking device is Oscar Straus's exquisite score, which includes
Walbrook's recurring merry-go-round ballad; in the best Viennese
tradition, this seemingly cheerful air has an undertone of sadness and
loss that is fitting for a film which evokes so wondrously the
bitter transience of romantic love.
© James Travers 2011
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Max Ophüls film:
Le Plaisir (1952)
Film Synopsis
An all-knowing master of ceremonies guides us through a series of brief
love affairs that take place in Vienna of 1900, using a carousel as a
metaphor for the revolving series of liaisons which he nudges
along. The love waltz begins with a young soldier who reluctantly
avails himself of the services of a prostitute before seducing an
innocent gamine. The latter becomes a housemaid to a gauche
aristocrat who cannot help succumbing to her in a moment of
madness. Emboldened by this clumsy initiation into love, the
aristocrat begins an affair with a married woman, whose husband
reserves his passions for his young mistress. The pattern of
tragically brief romantic escapades continues until it finally comes
full circle, ending with the streetwalker who began the merry-go-round
of love...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.