Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.
Max Ophüls’ La Ronde (1950) begins with a brilliant opening scene that sets the tone for the entire production. A man, dressed to the nines, is seen walking along a misty street, and without facing the camera he begins the following monologue:
Who am I in this story? “La Ronde”?
The author? The announcer? A passer-by?
I am you. In fact, anyone among you.
I am the personification of your desire . . .
Of your desire to know everything.
People always know only one side of reality.
And Why? Because they see only one side of things.
But I see every aspect because I see from every side.
That allows me to be everywhere at the same time.
Everywhere! But where are we?
On a stage? In a studio? [walking past a camera on a boom]
It’s hard to say. In a street?
Oh! We are in Vienna. In 1900.
Let us change costume. 1900. We are in the past.
I adore the past. It is so much more restful than the present
And so much more reliable than the future.
The sun’s out, and it’s spring.
The fragrance in the air tells you that this is going to be a story about love.
What do we need for love to begin its merry-go-round?
A waltz. There! A waltz!
La Ronde is basically a pleasant little ride on the comic merry-go-round of romance.
Historical Context: Max Ophüls was a talented French director as well as the father of another talented French director, Marcel Ophüls (best known for the film 1971 film The Sorrow and the Pity, a documentary critique of French complicity in the Holocaust). The older Ophüls, Max, on the other hand, was just reaching his stride when he died an untimely death. His final four films, all during the 1950’s, are highly regarded: the one under review here produced in 1950, followed by Le Plaisir (1952), The Earrings of Madame de . . . (1953), and Lola Montès (1955), which is the only one other than La Ronde that I’ve personally seen to date.
Ophüls had plans, in 1950, to do a film based on a Balzac novel and starring Greta Garbo, but was distracted from that project by the notion of adapting an acclaimed play by Arthur Schnitzler, La Ronde. Schnitzler’s play was far more serious than the film that Ophüls produced, emphasizing the relationship between sexual promiscuity and sexually-transmitted disease (the one of greatest concern at that time being syphilis). Ophüls instead took a light-hearted approach, merely examining satirically the follies of casual romance. Consequently, the film was judged as “immoral” by the New York State Censorship Board and was banned from viewing in America for four years. That seems particularly humorous when one considers that the depictions of this film are the routine stuff of soap operas of modern television. Now, if only those soap operas offered the wit and intelligence of La Ronde!
The Story: A young prostitute (Simone Signoret) persuades a soldier (Serge Reggiani) to accompany her for a freebie. After, he quickly dumps her. Saturday night, the soldier goes dancing and seduces a maid (Simone Simon), before moving on to a “funny blond.” The maid moves ahead two months to July to a new job where she has a tryst with an inexperienced young man (Daniel Gelin) of the household. With this experience under his belt (literally), he is emboldened to seduce a wealthy and lovely married woman (Danille Darrieux) whose husband (Fernand Gravey) has lost interest in her and prefers a younger woman (Odette Joyeux), who he sets up in a love-nest. She, however, is enchanted by a poet and playwright (Jean-Louis Barrault), who dumps her for an actress (Isa Miranda), who is appearing in his latest play. She is visited by an admiring count (Gerard Philipe) who she seduces in quick tempo. He soon forgets her in a drunken binge but spends the night with the same prostitute with which the story began!
Each of these ten romantic rendezvous are framed by appearances of the omnipresent narrator, who also appears in some capacity – a waiter, a doorman, a liveryman – in each vignette.
Themes: Perhaps the most important theme in this film is the absence of any deep theme! This light and sophisticated film depicts the fleeting pleasures of casual romance without applying a moralistic admonition, thus becoming noteworthy mainly for its nonjudgmental tone. It’s not that this film glamorizes casual trysts especially; it simply observes all of this falderal with a sense of bemusement. Its message is pretty much limited to the obvious observation that casual sex is pleasant and intoxicating but ultimately devoid of real meaning. Romance, according to La Ronde is all too often illusory and fleeting.
That, apparently, was too little moral condemnation of casual sex for the New York State Censorship Board. Were La Ronde produced today, in the midst of the AIDS crisis, it would likely be roundly condemned (pardon the pun). I find it amusing how easily human societies confuse the issues of morality and sound health precautions. Throughout history, whenever there have been epidemics of sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs), moral standards suddenly come into vogue and sexual promiscuity is condemned as immoral. When concern with STDs abates, sexual liberation, free-sex, and “modern” views of sexual freedom become all the rage. The morality of sexuality doesn’t actually change from decade to decade or century to century. What really changes is the extent to which common-sense health precautions become relevant arguments against casual sex. Somehow, we don’t trust ourselves enough to refrain from casual sex simply on the basis of sound medical wisdom. So, to make sure everyone “gets the message”, we have to couch the argument in simplistic, moralistic, and religious terms.
Production Values: The strength of La Ronde is not in its message or themes but in its stylishness and technical virtuosity. The sets are lavish and the costumes gorgeous. The enchanting waltz music of Oscar Strauss sets the airy atmosphere. La Ronde is packed with clever plot devices, from the omnipresent narrator to the recurrent merry-go-round metaphor. At one point a breakdown of the merry-go-round serves as a metaphor for a character’s bout of impotency. In another scene, the narrator splices two sections of film to announce a jump ahead in the story. At another moment, the narrator walks a character through a time warp to move the plot ahead two months.
The other great strength of this film is the virtuoso quality of the performances. Ophüls was able to attract the best of post-war French acting talent for this film. The debonair Anton Walbrook appeared in many films including The Red Shoes (1948) and Lola Montès (1955). Simone Signoret later appeared in Diabolique (1955), Room at the Top (1959) and Ship of Fools (1965). Serge Reggiani appeared later in The Leopard (1963) and Bad Blood (1986). Simone Simon had previously starred in the horror classis Cat People (1942) and was also cast in The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941). Daniel Gelin appeared in The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) and La Nuit de Varennes (1982). Danille Darrieux appeared in another Ophüls classic, The Earrings of Madame de . . . (1953). Jean-Louis Barrault is best known for his magnificent performance as Baptiste in Children of Paradise but also appeared in La Nuit de Varennes (1982). Isa Miranda later appeared in Summertime (1955). Gerard Philipe had previously appeared in The Devil in the Flesh (1946).
Bottom-Line:La Ronde is an elegant film with little substance but plenty of delight. Like the casual relationships portrayed in the film, the film itself is titillating but not deeply meaningful. It is worth viewing simply for its novelty. La Ronde is in French with English subtitles and has a running time of 97 minutes. It is not rated but includes neither nudity nor violence.
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You might want to check out these other excellent films from France:
After ten years in Hollywood where he made the acclaimed LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN Max Ophls returned to France. His first film LA RONDE is taken f...More at Family Video
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