:: CRITICS on 'LOLA MONTÉS' ::


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		by Michael Moran	October 6, 2008
	Run, Lola Montes, Run Lola Montes (1955) Directed by Max Ophuls Ophuls’ movie tells the story of the doomed, scandal-filled life of Lola Montes, a 19th century courtesan, and it was infamous as a critical and box office disaster on its original release in 1955. Critical passions about it have been stirred ever since its re-release at the 1963 New York Film Festival. Andrew Sarris declared it “the greatest film of all time” while Pauline Kael called it “disappointing” and “painful to watch.” You’ve got three weeks to make up your own mind about whose side you’re on. Ophuls was famous for his elegant, almost obsessive camera work. James Mason, star of Ophuls' "The Reckless Moment (1949) even wrote a poem about it. A shot that does not call for tracks Is agony for poor old Max, Who, separated from his dolly, Is wrapped in deepest melancholy. Once, when they took away his crane, I thought he'd never smile again. Ophuls, in addition to inspiring poetry, also made some of the most individual movie of all time: Letter to an Unknown Woman (1948), which stars an exquisitely masochistic Joan Fontaine and is guaranteed to make you weep; Le Plaisir and Le Ronde, two films that explore the theme of comic and tragic romantic love in elaborately circular plots; and his masterpiece which tells the tragic story of a giddy, brittle, none-too-bright woman whose adulterous love is her doom. Earrings’s virtuoso lyricism makes any other movie look dowdy; it was just released on DVD in a new print and is a must see.
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