Max Ophüls
Max Ophüls | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Maximillian Oppenheimer 6 May 1902 |
| Died | 26 March 1957 (aged 54) |
| Resting place | Père Lachaise Cemetery |
| Citizenship |
|
| Occupation(s) | Director, Writer |
| Years active | 1931–1957 |
| Spouse | Hildegard Wall (m. 1926) |
| Children | Marcel Ophuls |
Maximillian Oppenheimer (
Life
Youth and early career
Max Ophüls was born in
Initially envisioning an acting career, he started as a stage actor in 1919 and played at the
Of his early films, the most acclaimed is
It was at the Burgtheater that Ophüls met the actress Hilde Wall.[4] They were married in 1926.[5]
Exile and post-war career
Predicting the
His first
Back in France, he directed and collaborated on the adaptation of
Ophüls's son
Style
All his works feature his distinctive smooth camera movements, complex crane and dolly sweeps, and tracking shots.
Many of his films inspired filmmakers like Stanley Kubrick[citation needed] and Paul Thomas Anderson, who gave an introduction on the restored DVD of The Earrings of Madame de... (1953).
Some of his films are narrated from the point of view of the female protagonist. Film scholars have analyzed films such as Liebelei (1933), Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948), and Madame de... (1953) as examples of the woman's film genre.[8] Nearly all of his female protagonists had names beginning with "L" (Leonora, Lisa, Lucia, Louise, Lola, etc.)
Actor James Mason, who worked with Ophüls on two films, wrote a short poem about the director's love for tracking shots and elaborate camera movements:
- A shot that does not call for tracks
- Is agony for poor dear Max,
- Who, separated from his dolly,
- Is wrapped in deepest melancholy.
- Once, when they took away his crane,
- I thought he'd never smile again.
Filmography
| Year | Title | English title | Country | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1931 | Dann schon lieber Lebertran | I'd Rather Have Cod Liver Oil | Germany | Short film |
| Die verliebte Firma | The Company's in Love | Germany | ||
| 1932 | Die verkaufte Braut | The Bartered Bride | Germany | |
| 1933 | Liebelei |
Germany | French version Une histoire d'amour released the same year | |
Lachende Erben |
Laughing Heirs | Germany | ||
On a volé un homme |
A Man Has Been Stolen | France | Lost film[9] | |
| 1934 | La signora di tutti |
Everybody's Woman | Italy | |
| 1935 | Divine | France | ||
| 1936 | Komedie om geld |
The Trouble With Money | Netherlands | |
| Ave Maria | France | Documentary short film | ||
| La Tendre Ennemie | The Tender Enemy | France | ||
| Valse brillante de Chopin | France | Documentary short film | ||
| 1937 | Yoshiwara | France | ||
| 1938 | Le Roman de Werther | The Novel of Werther | France | |
| 1939 | Sans lendemain |
There's No Tomorrow | France | |
| 1940 | L'École des femmes | France | ||
De Mayerling à Sarajevo |
From Mayerling to Sarajevo | France | ||
| 1946 | Vendetta | Vendetta | United States | Fired during filming |
| 1947 | The Exile | The Exile | United States | |
| 1948 | Letter from an Unknown Woman | Letter from an Unknown Woman | United States | |
| 1949 | Caught | Caught | United States | |
| The Reckless Moment | The Reckless Moment | United States | ||
| 1950 | La Ronde | Roundabout | France | |
| 1952 | Le Plaisir | France | Nominated for an Academy Award[10]
| |
| 1953 | Madame de... | The Earrings of Madame de... | France | |
| 1955 | Lola Montès | France, West Germany |
Eastmancolor film |
- Also worked on Les amants de Montparnasse (1958), before his death.
Bibliography
- Max Ophüls (1959), Spiel im Dasein. Eine Rückblende. Mit einem Nachwort von Hilde Ophüls und einer Einführung von Friedrich Luft, sowie achtzehn Abbildungen (autobiography), Stuttgart: Henry Goverts Verlag (posthumously published).
See also
- List of German-speaking Academy Award winners and nominees
References
Citations
- ^ a b Bock & Bergfelder 2009, p. 574.
- ^ "Ophüls". Collins English Dictionary.
- ^ Hollinger 1986, p. 271.
- ^ Seibel 2009, p. 122.
- ^ "Max Ophüls". The Daily Star. 17 December 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
- ^ Exiles Memorial Center.
- ^ Staff, Hollywood.com (21 November 2014). "Marcel Ophuls | Biography and Filmography | 1927". Hollywood.com. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
- S2CID 141723307.
- ISBN 978-0-674-76268-8.
- ^ "Le Plaisir". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2012. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 21 December 2008.
Sources
- Seibel, Alexandra (2009). Vienna, Girls, and Jewish Authorship: Topographies of a Cinematic City, 1920–40. New York, US: ISBN 978-1-109-90234-1.
- Bock, Hans-Michael; Bergfelder, Tim (2009). The concise Cinegraph: Encyclopaedia of German cinema. New York, US: ISBN 978-1-57181-655-9.
- Hollinger, Karen (1986). Letter from an unknown woman. Piscataway, New Jersey, US: ISBN 978-0-8135-1160-3.
Further reading
- Alan Larson Williams (1977, reprinted 1980, 1992), Max Ophüls and the Cinema of Desire: Style and Spectacle in Four Films, 1948–1955, Dissertations on Film series, New York: Arno Press (reprint). | ISBN 0-405-12924-6
- Susan M. White (1995), The Cinema of Max Ophüls: Magisterial Vision and the Figure of Woman, New York: Columbia University Press. | ISBN 0-231-10113-9
- Lutz Bacher (1996), Max Ophüls in the Hollywood Studios, Rutgers, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. | ISBN 0-8135-2291-9
- ISBN 978-0-306-80540-0
External links
- Dossier about Max Ophüls (edited by Toni D'Angela), on La furia umana, n° 9, 2011, texts (English, French, Italian) by Raymond Bellour, Chris Fujiwara, Leland Monk, Gaylyn Studlar, Susan M. White, Alain Masson, and others. [1]
- Max Ophüls at IMDb
- Max Ophüls at AllMovie
- Max Ophuls Bibliography (via UC Berkeley Media Resources Center)
- Senses of Cinema Essay by Tag Gallagher
- Max Ophüls Award
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
