Main Cast: Anton Walbrook, Simone Signoret, Serge Reggiani, Simone Simon, Daniel Gélin, Danielle Darrieux, Fernand Gravey, Odette Joyeux, Jean-Louis Barrault, Isa Miranda, Gérard Philipe
Release Year: 1950
Country: FR
Run Time: 97 minutes
Plot
An exercise in style, La Ronde was one of the few films of the 1950s to contain overtly sexual themes. The story is a series of character vignettes, set in Vienna in the early 1900s and held together by a narrator (Anton Walbrook). As the title implies, both the story and the film's visual motifs are circular. Director Max Ophuls uses an old-fashioned merry-go-round to foreshadow the film's events, in which each segment introduces a new character, who has an affair with a character from the previous scene. The film demands that the audience pay attention to the structure, to the interplay among the characters, and to the opulent visual elements; and the effect is synergistic delight, in which the viewer is engaged both visually and intellectually. Because it was filmed in black-and-white, La Ronde does not have the garish look of some of Ophuls' other films, notably Lola Montès. La Ronde is among the few foreign language films to receive multiple Oscar nominations, for Black & White Art Direction and Best Adapted Screenplay. ~ Richard Gilliam, All Movie Guide
Jean Clarieux; Robert Vattier - Prof. Schuller; Charles Vissieres - The Concierge
Credit
Georges Annenkov - Costume Designer, Lucie Lichtig - Continuity, Paul Feyder - First Assistant Director, Max Ophüls - Director, Leonide Azar - Editor, Oscar Straus - Composer (Music Score), Ralph Baum - Production Designer, Jean D'Eaubonne - Production Designer, Christian Matras - Cinematographer, Sacha Gordine - Producer, Jean D'Eaubonne - Set Designer, Charles Merangel - Set Designer, Pierre-Louis Calvet - Sound/Sound Designer, Max Ophüls - Screenwriter, Jacques Natanson - Screenwriter, Arthur Schnitzler - Play Author
It tells a series of stories about love affairs or illicit meetings involving a prostitute, a soldier, a chambermaid, her employer's son, a married woman, her husband, a young girl, a poet, an actress and a count. At the end of each encounter, one of the partners forms a liaison with another person, and so on.
