Lola Montes (Ophuls, 1955): BFI Southbank, NFT2, 8.40pm
This film, a masterpiece by any standards, is also screening at BFI Southbank in the Melodrama season, on December 6th. Details here.Chicago Reader review:
A baroque masterpiece by Max Ophuls, his last film (1955) and his only
work in color and wide-screen. The producers were expecting a routine
melodrama with Martine Carol (a bland French star of the period); when
they saw what Ophuls had made—with its exquisite stylization, elaborate
flashbacks, and infinite subtlety—they cut it to ribbons. The film was
restored in the 60s and impressed some critics, including Andrew Sarris,
as "the greatest film ever made," and certainly this story of a
courtesan's life is among the most emotionally plangent, visually
ravishing works the cinema has to offer. With Peter Ustinov, Anton
Walbrook, Ivan Desny, and Oskar Werner.
Dave Kehr
Here (and above) is the trailer.
No comments:
Post a Comment