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MovieMail's Review
Enchanting and playful: Rick Burin enjoys Ophuls' La Ronde .
“Whirl and whirl, my manikins,” Master of Ceremonies Anton Walbrook incants time and again in Max Ophuls’ delicious comedy-drama, as the ‘carousel of desire’ that begins and ends with prostitute Simone Signoret takes in all strata of Viennese society. She couples with a soldier, who dates a maid, who tempts a young man, who desires a married woman … and on it turns.
La Ronde was Ophuls’ first film after returning to France from Hollywood in 1950. An adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s notorious turn-of-the-century play, it features a virtual who’s who of contemporary French talent. Serge Reggiani plays the amusingly abrupt soldier, Simone Simon is a joy as a big-eyed, breathlessly flirtatious maid, and Danielle Darrieux – who would reach her zenith three years later in Ophuls’ Madame de… – is fine as an adulterous socialite who fantasises about her husband’s younger years.
While the subject matter may sound tawdry or uninvolving, in Ophuls’ hands it is anything but. La Ronde is light, witty, intelligent, funny and sexy in turn. It is philosophical and insightful without ever feeling stodgy and each couple is so appealing that one dreads the closing of a chapter – until the next one emerges, yet more enchanting. Different moods pervade each pairing, while each character possesses flaws that make them human, and facets that make them transcendent.
It is the most playful of Ophuls’ films, with the director betraying an admiration for Lubitsch that extends to direct-to-camera addresses, punchlines involving bedroom doors and one great big, hilarious metaphor about the carousel’s machinery not working properly. Like Lubitsch, the director also embraces the romanticism of his favourite city, presenting an idyllic, lushly-lit neverworld where even the grocery shops shimmer and shine. Ophuls gleefully embraces the artifice of cinema, as the droll Walbrook begins proceedings by walking onto a soundstage and changing into his period costume, later returning to wind the carousel by hand, hurry characters on their way and – in a moment of outrageous brilliance – stroll through the passage of time with his manikin maid.
Audio commentary by Susan White, author of The Cinema of Max Ophuls
Photo Gallery.
Film Description
Anton Walbrook is the enigmatic, omnipotent master of ceremonies guiding us through a series of amorous encounters in the Vienna of 1900. One fleeting moment links to the next, partners change and the dance goes on, turning like the waltz and the carousel until the final vignette brings the story full circle.
Taken from Arthur Schnitzler’s rather cynical play about sexual morals (or the lack of them) in turn of the century Vienna, Ophuls’ film recreates the scene more as nostalgia for a magical lost world of pleasure and romance.
A circular tale of love and seduction, set in Vienna of 1900. "Every major and minor legend of French acting stepped off his or her pedestal to foot it nimbly through ... more >
A circular tale of love and seduction, set in Vienna of 1900. "Every major and minor legend of French acting stepped off his or her pedestal to foot it nimbly through Schnitzlers daisy-chain of encounters between the sexes..a triumph of wit and a miracle of inventive style" The Financial Times. < less
The opening shot, in which Anton Walbrook invites the audience to take part in this magic, is alone worth the price of the movie. Wonderful performances by a gallery ... more >
The opening shot, in which Anton Walbrook invites the audience to take part in this magic, is alone worth the price of the movie. Wonderful performances by a gallery of leading actors and actresses, with Danielle Darrieux, Gérard Philipe and Walbrook outstanding, make this an absolute must. < less
