SIN-E-FILE (Ophuls)

"I have the sin of the Cinephile" - Jean Luc Godard

No one mentioned the name Max Ophuls in the four years that I was in film school in the mid 90’s. I didn’t hear the name until I was told that my thesis film would be playing at the Max Ophuls Film Festival in Germany in 1998. I didn’t bother to look into the man who this festival (one of the largest in Germany) was named after. I don’t know why I didn’t. I guess I figured that if I hadn’t heard of him, then he wasn’t important.

It took a special experience for me to get the desire to look into his work. The sister of the late Max Ophuls, an intelligent cinephile and well respected fixture of the festival, who was well into her eighties but showing no signs of it save some wrinkes, was nice enough to go on and on about how much she enjoyed my film. But she wasn't just polite, she actually discovered things that I never thought anyone would discover in the film; things that I only dreamt the audience would be perceptive enough to see. In essence, I was talking to "my audience", the one I made the film for. She finished by saying "It reminds me of my brother's films." I felt proud, moved, inspired. But I had no idea what she meant.

I still don't. I have been slowly discovering the man and his films ever since. For a while, there was next to nothing on DVD in this country. I found one of his best know films, The Earrings Of Madame De, on VHS. I was kind of amazed at how the camera never stopped moving, the structure of the storytelling was so engaging and tight, the acting was impressively natural and sincere; in short, nothing like my little film.

BAM, last year, had a mini retrospective. I got excited and checked out a few more of his late films. Was extremely impressed with his last film, Lola Montes. Saw it again when it was screened as part of the New York Film Festival this year. This is a film that totally incorporates both the old style of European filmmaking and the modern poetic realism that flourished soon thereafter. It has been sadly misunderstood for the most part, and never really treated as the masterpiece it is.

Criterion released his other last 3 films, La Ronde, Le Plasir and The Earrings of Madame De, in typically superb editions this year with very informative commentaries and other great extras.

These films are all made by a true master of the medium. You can feel that you are in good hands as you are experiencing the work. It’s hard to figure out why he is not more widely considered a director worthy of the stature of, say, Renoir or Welles. I am thankful that I was introduced to him in such a unique way. Not to put my film down, but, I don't think it would remind anyone of Max Ophuls' films. Whether she meant it or not, in my search for meaning from this nice moment in my life, I found a great artist. I recommend him to you.

-Peter Rinaldi