La ronde

Vienna 1900. But actually a film studio in France. Ophuls never lets you forget that. This masterwork is deeply concerned with truth and illusion. In love and in art, in the art of love. It is charming whilst showing you the limitations of charm, seductive whilst demonstrating the hazards of seduction. Great as it is, it probably is not the peak of the director's achievement: LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN, MADAME DE... and LOLA MONTES probably have better claims to that accolade. But the rare weak moments do not, in my view, detract from LA RONDE's status as a masterpiece, since over all its quality is so high. It boasts a dazzling cast, led by wonderful Anton Walbrook, and a theme tune by Oskar Straus that will follow you around for the rest of your life.

La Ronde is one of my favourite French films, I can't watch it too often as it has its faults but it hasn't failed to enchant me each time so far. Max Ophuls certainly had an elegant style about him, see Le Plaisir and Madame de .. for further evidence. He re-created Vienna 1903 seemingly effortlessly in this, and even with Anton Walbrook continually talking to the camera and a film set deliberately momentarily on display it's pretty convincing. The attention to period detail was knockout, done as only Ophuls knew how. It can still be done nowadays but lacking one vital ingredient: an atmosphere, a feel for the time and place that came with nitrate film stock. Modern films can look as sumptuous in their set and costume design even in todays colour, but nearly all fail to generate an atmosphere because modern film stock plays too realistic - and it ain't going to get any better with digital no-film-at-all!

The Austrian Anton Walbrook was a multi-linguist, his sinister sibilant English in Gaslight was perfect, in Colonel Blimp perfectly resigned as a defeated and baffled non-Nazi German soldier. He spoke a few gorgeous words in French in La Ronde and was then promptly dubbed for the rest of the movie. Maybe he couldn't sing, but why did they jettison such a lovely speaking voice as well?

The conventional hypocrisy of sexually cheating on your (straight?!) partner in secret is repeatedly portrayed, as well as the notion that casual sexual gratification is usually desired by both sexes of both classes and as fast as possible. These lovers of sex move on: familiarity breeds contempt - once you've come it's time to go! This sex (not love) merry-go-round is one reason why there are 6 billion people on Earth today! But I definitely don't agree with the previous comment that Ophuls' version of La Ronde was about the spread of STD even though the original play had it as a major theme. Ophuls was all about Pleasure, not Pain - any syphilitic transmission was left to the imagination here. Walbrook waxes wistfully cynical throughout this beautiful film - he wouldn't change a thing about Life and Sex if he could. I'm happily forced to watch this film with amused sadness from his point of view, and wouldn't change a thing about it even if I could.

Yes, this movie is based on overt sexual tendencies; there is no argument there. What is so amazing about this movie is the cinematography. Ophuls created so many sweeping shots, so well, using only a camera on a track. This is an amazing feat. Also this movie echoes a lot of Freud. Remember, Ophuls is German and certainly read Freud during his life.

One of Freud's greatest works involving psychoanalysis is parapraxes, or slips of the tongue. In La Ronde, parapraxes play a major role, for parapraxes also apply to misplacement of items (and people). For every love, there is another lover. Freud would say that no matter how much you love your partner, there is a better partner for you out there. A partner that the second you see, you will become instantly infatuated with. La Ronde does an excellent job of this.

I've just read all the previous comments on this and I'm surprised that none of them apparently grasped that the main thrust of the plot was the passing of venereal disease from one character to another. It's not just coincidence that the first coupling is between a prostitute and a soldier - prostitutes traditionally work near army barracks and are, or arguably were in 1900, more likely to be carriers of venereal disease than most other women simply because by definition they had sex with more men than the average woman, married or single, in 1900. The vastly overrated semi-Amateur film maker Jean-Luc Godard dismissed both the film and one of France's leading actors (Gerard Philippe) with the words 'France's worst actor in France's worst film', which in itself should be sufficient to send all intelligent people flocking to see La Ronde. It is, of course, dated. It has to be, it was made 54 years ago yet it still retains that quality that has always eluded and will always elude Godard, Style. What if not stylish should we call it when our self-appointed narrator, Anton Walbrook, discards his slightly down-market raincoat and dons an opera cape to lead us to a sleazy quarter of Vienna and make us privy to the initial sexual encounter, the first, of course, of many, between prostitute Simone Signoret and soldier Serge Reggiani (soon to play similar roles in Jacques Becker's 'Casque d'Or') and provide the first 'take' on love/sex which is indifference; even when Signoret is prepared to waive her fee Reggiani disdains free sex on the grounds that her room is a ten minute walk from where they met and only reluctantly does he finally agree to an al fresco coupling from which he hurries away with barely a 'thank you', let alone a cigarette. Cynicism is still rampant in the next encounter in which Regginani seduces Simone Simon's comely housemaid then hurries back to the dance where they had met. Cynicism of a different sort informs the next encounter when the young man of the house (Daniel Gelin) where Simon is employed practices his seduction technique on her before attempting it with the real thing in the shape of older, married Danielle Darrieux. This episode, together with its successor (Darrieux and her husband, Fernand Gravey) serves as a filmic equivalent of an interval in a theatre (the film is based, as is widely known, on a play by Viennese playwright Artur Schnitzler)and Gelin's initial impotence is metaphored subtly (for 1950) by the breaking down of the roundabout which allows Ophuls to cut away to Walbrook in mechanic mode and then back to a now successful Gelin consummating his infatuation for Darrieux. And so it goes on, brief encounters, longer liaisons, just like life in fact. Virtually all of the cast had or would appear in classic films, not least Jean-Pierre Barrault, so memorable in 'Les Enfants du Paradis', Gerard Philippe, the original 'Fanfan le Tulipe' with 'Les Orgueillex' still to come, Serge Reggiani, a veteran of 'Les Portes de la Nuit', laughed off the screen in 1946 and now regarded rightly as a masterpiece, and so on, arguably only Isa Miranda as the actress let the side down. All in all a triumph. 8/10

Through a series of dove-tailing love vignettes, Max Ophüls offers us an enchanting film replete with some of the greatest acting talent French cinema has known. The brevity of the individual segments of the film does not greatly impair the quality of the characterisation or acting performance, and there are some very impressive moments, particularly the scenes with Jean-Louis Barrault (best know for his role in Les Enfants du Paradis) and Simone Signoret (Les Diaboliques and Casque d'Or).

The film is surprisingly - for a film of its age - pretty explicit about the sexual proclivities of the aristocracy and military men. That a respectable middle-aged married woman should seek an amorous adventure with a man half her age, whilst her wealthy husband carries on with a young woman barely out of her teens most probably caused a few raised eyebrows when the film was released in 1950 - particularly when the film is very much in the velvet-lined mould of the traditional pre-war French romantic film.

The most impressive aspect of the film, above the great acting and splendid direction, is its humour. This is a film that is unable to take itself seriously. The mysterious raconteur (superbly played by Anton Walbrook) endeavours to keep the merry-go-round of love happily on its course, but has a few technical problems on the way. It's reassuring to know that even all-knowing deities have their off-days.

Another strong point is Oscar Straus's musical score, particularly the raconteur's merry-go-round ballad which accompanies the film throughout, not unlike the cheery music of a real merry-go-round in a fairground.

This has all the ingredients of a great film. It is a fanciful waltz across the ephemeral ballroom of love, and it succeeds admirably.