Max Ophüls
1)Fled Nazi Germany to France in 1933
2)Made many films in France
3)When France fell to Nazi's he moved to America
4)Made films in Hollywood until late 40's
5)Returned to France in the 1950's
Max's Films:
1)Luxuriously cinematic
2)His camera glides and tracks and cranes
3)Always an emotional and thematic underpinning
for his gorgeous embellishment.
A particularly famous elaborate shot is at the beginning of the second segment in his triptych of Guy de Maupassant adaptations,
Le Plaisir.
"The Tellier House," the tale of a 19th century Normandy brothel
It has the respect of the community
We never see inside the house - a sanctum we aren't allowed to penetrate.
We are seeing this clip:
Le Plaisir (Max Ophüls, 1954):
The remarkable shot took an entire day to rehearse and was achieved with
a crane controlled manually with counterweights.
Starts with a bravura single that - establishes the space of the house n the Madame.
Click here for the clip of the crane shot
Other Cinematography:
Molly Haskell wrote.
“the roving camera and the visual glissandos are never virtuoso flourishes for their own sake”
In general of his movies.
Ophuls found a home in French studios at a time when French films valued literate, almost theatrical
scripts and carefully styled studio production ("the tradition of quality").
La Ronde (1950) & later films
1) Feature characters that ignore or defy social tensions
2)They embrace a structure that is less a single driving narrative
and more of a string of episodes.
3) These films deliberately use artificial, theatrical settings to raise
questions about acting and realism.
4) In La Ronde:
a)Uses an undisguised soundstage
b)a metaphoric carousel
c)a narrator that stands in for Ophuls himself.
d)His camera is always on the move showing the two poles of artifice and realism.
La Ronde (Max Ophüls, 1950): B&W clip
See some of the clip here
Beautiful scenery near a stage. Narrator says, so what do I have to do with this/in
La Ronde (French for a merry-go-round). A passerby.
The incarnation of your desire. I am everywhere all at once. On a stage,
In a studio...and he walks into a studio....in a street.
Vienna ... 1900 a change of clothes...we're in the past i adore.
There's the sun...it's springtime. The scent of love is in the air. A Waltz?
Now the carousel is on its way. The story. Coming with hme handsome. I'm not playing the came. Position yourself at the corner. You hear that? it's the army/soldiers.
The Tart and the Soldier... It's free for soldiers. I like you but it's too far, give me your address.
Long shot. She takes him under bridge to fool around.
Film Quarterly Article on La Ronde Click Here - I actually don't like this article, but interesting
snob view.
I saw the Earrings of Madame de ...This is a link to a collection of posters for The Earrings...
Lots of dancing and moving cameras
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