Max Ophuls

 Max Ophuls

Liebelei (1933)

Everybody's Woman (1934)

Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)

The Reckless Moment (1949)

La Ronde (1950)

Le Plaisir (1952)

The Earrings of Madame de... (1953)

RANKED:

7. Everybody's Woman (1934)

After having to flee Germany in 1933 due to his Jewish ancestry, Max Ophuls spent some time in Italy. This time in Italy did not last very long, as he only made one feature film there, 1934's "Everybody's Woman." The film tells the story of a famous actress who attempts suicide. After the event, the film follows her backstory through the twists and turns of lovers and possessors, affection and heartbreak, and one tragedy after the next. This is the film that made Italian film actress Isa Miranda a global sensation, as well as allowing Max Ophuls an opportunity to fine-tune his iconic camerawork.

6. The Reckless Moment (1949)

Max Ophuls' final film in the United States before finishing his career in France was his 1949 effort "The Reckless Moment." Billed as a 'noir,' this film plays more like a suspenseful melodrama. It centers on a mother who goes to great lengths to protect her daughter from being found guilty of an incidental murder. Through all the twists, turns, and blackmail of the story, the main takeaway is what a mother would do to protect her children. Although retrospectively a praised film in the career of Ophuls, it was critically and commercially unsuccessful in the time of its release.

5. Le Plaisir (1952)

During his French period in the 1950s, Max Ophuls was finally able to utilize the camerawork he would come to be known for. With his 1952 film "Le Plasir," he really made his mark. Detailing three separate stories all dealing with the thematic concept of 'pleasure,' the film takes a comedic and charming viewpoint of humanity and all of our baffling decisions, behaviors, and desires. These three stories are adapted straight from iconic 19th century French author Guy de Maupassant, and all will arouse passions, anxieties, and melancholy within the viewer as they reflect on their own human spirit and fading existence. 

4. Liebelei (1933)

In one of the last films he would make before fleeing Germany, Max Ophuls' "Liebelei" was a subtly audacious film that slipped under the radar of the Nazi regime. Taking place in Imperial-era Vienna, a young lieutenant and a musician's daughter's romance falls apart after a former affair with a Baron's wife causes the young lieutenant his life. With these that touch upon militant control, Ophuls' film directly reveals the tragedy that comes from control and rigidity in modern society. Perhaps the storyline takes place in the polite society of the Victorian era, but the themes interrogating notions of authority and suppression of human impulse could also hit a nerve with the new Hitler-controlled Germany that same year. 

3. La Ronde (1950)

In returning to Europe after his temporary tenure in Hollywood, Max Ophuls headed to the French film industry market, rather than his previous film industry home, Germany. His first French film, 1950's "La Ronde," is an episodic anthology centering on various romances of a kaleidoscope of differing social and economic classes of people. Each episode is connected by a character from the previous episode, as we go round and round the 'wheel' of love, friendship, and connection. All of the characters, despite their status or standing, feel a sense of loneliness and destitution, which is why they are desperate to feel something and to be loved and to love others. Its a shame that none of them really end up together in the ways they would like, as they class or status prevent them from making real connections.

2. Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)

Max Ophuls made films for many different countries. He started making films in Germany, made a film in Italy, and would eventually end his career making French films. However, he spent considerable time in America making Hollywood flicks before, during, and briefly after the war. His most acclaimed films from this period was a film that had a poor box office and lost Universal money, 1948's "Letter from an Unknown Woman." Perhaps it is the fanatical, fantastical, and obsessive nature of the lead female protagonist, or perhaps its the utter cynicism of the film, but for some reason, audiences failed to show up for it. Retrospectively, it has reappraised as being a substantial work by Ophuls and demonstrates the complexity of theme and emotion that could be present in a major Hollywood flick.

1. The Earrings of Madame de... (1953)

Centering on a wealthy aristocratic woman at the turn of the century in France's "Belle Époque," "The Earrings of Madame de..." is perhaps Max Ophuls' greatest work. In fact, the film seems to be a complete synthesis of all his previous works and themes. It works similarly to his 1933 German film "Liebelei" in that it brings forward the emptiness and oppressive force that luxury, lavish living, and material abundance brings. Our unnamed protagonist begins the film completely in line with the superficiality around her. After she falls in love with an Italian diplomat, the weight of her jewels, luxury, and material abundance starts to become a constricting force keeping her from any sort of passion or feeling of any kind. What was once simple frivolity has now become an oppressive force used to constrict her and drain all of the love and passion out of her by her male counterpart (and thereby the patriarchal power structures that create this abundance). "The Earrings of Madame de..." is a film admired for its unique and innovative camerawork, specifically its completely immersive tracking shots, which allow the viewer to inhabit the space of Madame and gain a new foundational understanding the world and life that surrounds her. It is a remarkably simple film, but stands out amongst film scholars as one of the greatest French films of the 1950s, and perhaps Ophuls at his most powerful.