Select language, opens an overlay

Comment

Jan 31, 2015Nursebob rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Max Ophul’s lighthearted merry-go-round of a movie follows the romantic exploits of its circulating cast as they go through the rigors of love; from seduction to heartbreak to eventual rebound with another willing player. Guided by the film’s omniscient narrator who wields the power of fate in his hand, each separate story segues smoothly into the next as characters switch partners and love begins anew. Prostitutes and soldiers, poets and mistresses, Counts and scoundrels; all take part in a marvelously circular danse d’amour while a swirling background waltz maintains a steady rhythm like the beating of a heart. Ophul adds some colourful touches along the way; plaster cherubs and satyrs peek out of bushes, every scene includes a clock to mark the passage of time, and a whimsical carousel spins round and round in the centre of town...stopping only briefly when one character experiences a temporary bout of impotence. Filled with theatrical conceits and sexual innuendo (sometimes a sword is not just a sword) this is a bright breezy film delivered with a playful insouciance that has aged beautifully.