This article accompanies the fable
Life as Opera



Max Ophuls

Lola Montès was Max Ophuls' last film (in 1955) and though some critics love it, I don't think it compares well with his earlier masterpieces, Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948) and La Ronde (1950) being my two favorites. The biggest problem is that there is no sense of the erotic hold that Lola Montès had over her lovers and admirers; she is reduced to being a statue.

Below is a still from the film, with Martine Carol as Lola and Adolf Wohlbrück (aka Anton Walbrook) as King Ludwig I.