Max Ophüls
Maximillian Oppenheimer, known as Max Ophüls (AW-fəlss or OH-fəlss), was a German and French film director, screenwriter and art director. He was known for his opulent and lyrical visual style, with heavy use of tracking shots, and his melancholic, romantic themes. The Harvard Film Archive has called Ophüls "a supreme stylist of the cinema and a master storyteller". A refugee from Nazi Germany, Ophüls worked in Germany (1931–33), France (1933–40 and 1950–57), and the United States (1947–50). He made nearly 30 films, the latter ones being especially notable: Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948), The Reckless Moment (1949), La Ronde (1950), Le Plaisir (1952), The Earrings of Madame de… (1953), and Lola Montès (1955).
Biography adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
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Photo: Studio Harcourt, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Defining films
Critical context
Like the elaborate camera manoeuvres that enrich his multinational filmography, the career of Max Ophuls has been one of dynamic fluctuation. Since his first feature in 1932, through his last in 1955, Ophuls has had moments of tremendous productivity, only to have that followed by years of disheartening adversity; he languished under periods of stagnant disappointment, only to rise again and flourish with a string of successes. Born Maximillian Oppenheimer, Ophuls began his show business career…
