Liebelei

This is truly an excellent film, and it's production values totally belie the date of release.

If you like it, take time out to read the play Liebelei by Arthur Schnitzler. The guy above me misspelled his name, so you won't find it by searching that way! I think it's been translated into English as 'Flirtations'. You will discover that this is one of the earliest examples of a good story being taken (granted these days it's done by Hollywood) and mutated to fit the dramatic formula. For instance, our two protagonists are not cavalry officers, but members of the 'fin de siecle' bourgeois class who have bought they're way in as reserves at the officer level, they only train 3 or 4 times a year. The love story portrayed in the film is not in the book in the same way, and we never meet the woman Fritz is having an affair with, we don't even learn her name.

Still, this is a good film worth watching if you have the time to seek it out.

A wonderful picture that shows how early in his career Ophuls mastered melodrama. As melodrama indicates, it's drama with music, and from the start Ophuls sets in motion an operistic, artificial mood. Every performance is self-conscious, aware of being representing; all sets are shown thoroughly, characters leave the scene and the camera remains a few seconds in the empty decor; even the way the snows falls from the sky appears to be fake. Still the film has an admirable freshness and engages the audience in an almost hypnotic trip, to which Ophuls' floating camera and his modern, dramatic use of the score contribute big time. Max Ophuls can be paralleled with Douglas Sirk as a director that purposely breaks up with any trace of reality in order to convey a truth that is purely cinematic.

In the beginning of the Twentieth Century, in Vienna, Dragoon Lieutenant Fritz Lobheimer (Wolfgang Liebeneiner) and Second Lieutenant Theo Kaiser (Carl Esmond) are at the opera when a girl accidentally drops her opera glass. Fritz has a love affair with Baroness von Aggersdorf (Olga Tschechowa) and leaves the opera house to encounter her. Her suspicious husband, Baron von Aggersdorf (Gustaf Gründgens), leaves the opera earlier expecting to catch his wife with her lover but is unsuccessful. Lt. Kaise meets the two girls, Mitzi Schlager (Luisa Ullrich) and Christine Weiring (Magda Schneider), looking for the glass and invites them to go to a cafeteria. Meanwhile, Fritz gives his key to the Baroness and flees from her house. He meets the trio at the cafeteria and while Theo and Mitzi go to his apartment, Fritz walks Christine home. Theo schedules a double date and soon Fritz and Christine fall in love with each other, and Fritz looks for Baroness von Aggersdorf to end their affair. However, the military Graf von Aggersdorf (Paul Otto) tells his brother, Baron von Aggersdorf, the rumors about the relationship of Fritz and his wife. He finds her key and challenges Fritz to a duel, with tragic consequences.

"Liebelei", a.k.a. "Playing at Love" (1933) is a very sad romance by Max Ophüls. The plot is heartbreaking, kind of Romeu & Juliet, about the love of Christine Weiring and Lt. Fritz Lobheimer in the beginning of the last century. In 1958, this romance was remade with the title of "Christine" and Alain Delon in his first lead role and the sweet and lovely Romy Schneider as his romantic pair. Both classy movies are highly recommended. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Redenção" ("Redemption")

"Liebelei" is generally considered to be the highlight of the German period of Max Ophuls.

The story is rather simple. Two friends (Fritz and Theo) are meeting two girls (Christine and Mizzi). From this meeting two relationships emerge. One relationship (between Theo and Mizzi) is just for the fun while the other (between Fritz and Christine) runs much deeper.

The story resembles "Letter to Brezhnev" (1985, Chris Bernard). This film is however about two working girls and two sailors, while "Liebelei" is situated in the 19th century world of military officers with their code of honor. In "Letter to Brezhnev" the threat to the relationship was the departure of the sailors. In "Liebelei" it is a duel for which Fritz has been challenged. The world of "Liebelei" is also the world of Alexander Pushkin in his short story "The gunshot", in which also a duel comes at a time when a man is least prepared for it (also due to a love affair).

The story of "Liebelei" is relatively simple, but it is beautifully told. The scene where Fritz meets Christine for the first time, the scene of the duel and the scene in which the outcome of the duel is told to Christine are all magnificent. The duel scene is in no way inferior to the duel scene in "Barry Lyndon" (1975, Stanley Kubrick) and the despair of Christine equals the despair of Cloris Leachman in the most intense scene of "The last picture show" (1971, Peter Bogdanovich).

For this film Max Ophuls wanted four upcoming talents in the leading roles and some experienced actors in supporting roles. This casting strategy works out perfectly. The role of Christine is played by Magda Schneider. Twenty two years later her daughter Romy Schneider would play the same character in "Christine" (1958, Pierre Gaspard-Huit).

I caught this film years back at the Cinematheque in Paris and was finally able to chase down a copy. This film works beautifully on so many levels it's hard to know where to begin or what to include. It is a class study in turn-of-the-century Vienna with a love affair that transcends some but not all of the social barriers. There are misunderstandings a la Schnitzler in the rigid system and the now absurd dueling scene with its "male honor" at stake. But the camera is constantly on the prowl, weaving in and out and omitting at times as much as it shows, Ophuls visual addition. The sleigh-ride sequence is exactly as I remembered it and justifiably famous. My copy is missing all the Jewish credits at the beginning.

Curtis Stotlar