What a radical film for 1934!

A bleak cosmic nihilism--where appearances devour essences, or rather essence is but appearance under the sign of language (communication, media, mass media)--sugarcoated with melodrama leavened by formal brio.

The OG Lola Montes

The trademark virtuoso camera movements of Max Ophüls are much in evidence in this peerless melodrama, the only film this peripatetic genius made in Italy after fleeing the Nazi regime.

Isa Miranda delivers an incandescent performance as the film star reliving her life in flashback as she is anesthetized after a suicide attempt.

As a fan of the melodrama genre, this is one of the finest I’ve ever seen.

Massively recommended!

Online Access: ok.ru/video/2495008082542

maybe my new favourite ophuls, would be completely in awe of this in any year but doing it in 1934 just boggles the mind. ophuls always makes me think of the demy quote, that i’m sure was spoken with ophuls in mind, “a light-hearted film that deals with heavy subjects is better than a heavy film that deals with lightweight subjects” -  unfollowed a guy for calling this ‘melodramatic trash’. gonna reread the emrata essay now

So committed to character that when Gaby says, “my head is spinning,” the camera does a twirl.

Look, this film is in so many ways typical Italian melodramatic trash. Except that Ophüls' camera is so staggeringly masterful here that it almost doesn't matter at all. The movement, the fades, the double exposures. It's up there with any of the most excited and elaborate work of the late silent era, only ten years later fully into the world of sound.

I don't care what the facts say, I refuse to believe this movie was made in 1934. This is seven years before Citizen Kane, and it pulls off the same sort of narrative structure and innovative camera techniques just as well if not better!

At times the movie falls into melodrama, but the dizzying camera moves more than make up for it.

Incredibly well directed and shot melodrama from Ophuls.

I am the love of the world/Nobody is for me.

Seosed ja eeldatavad mõjutused Citizen Kane'ile tunduvad üsna meelevaldsed. Muidugi saab neid siit välja lugeda, kui tahta, aga Ophülsi mõju tollastele filmitegijatele oli nagunii laiaulatuslik ja väljaspool kahtlust. Siit saab tõmmata suht sirge joone Ophülsi viimase filmini Lola Montès, nii visuaalsete ambitsioonide kui traagiliste naiskangelaste kaudu. Ophüls aktiveerub märgatavalt teises pooles, kui see üldiselt väheerutav melodraama pöörleb oma täistuuridel ning hüppab Kane'iliku hooga ajas ja sündmustes edasi (rongi montaaž on eriline kõrghetk). Viimane kaader kuulub kindlasti filmilõppude panteoni.

What garbage! What is this trash magazine called?

- La Vérité.

Currently streaming on Prime. It's one of those films that poured forth in such an initial rapid fire pace that I couldn't quite keep up reading the subtitles. His work always deserves more patience and attentive focus. It's amazing how developed all of his trademarks are here. It's extremely technically accomplished, and an introduction to the theme he would bookend with Lola Montes. It's that perceived accessibility of any public talent that tears the most vulnerable to shreds, up to a 21 year old minor figure of British 60's pop and psychedelic underground, Syd Barrett. In a mid-1967 interview the interviewer revealing says (and I paraphrase from memory): "When I look into your eyes I feel like you have something to give to me."

Incredibly well directed and shot melodrama from Ophuls.

letterboxd.com/lonza/list/10x10-i-finally-get-to-see-these/

Ophuls is the poet of the impossible love, that type of love that might get you killed. First Liebelei, now this.
A deadly blessing.

There is a lot here that reminds me of later Max Ophuls, the moving camera, spins and shadow work is great, and Ise Maranda is luminous in the lead roll. But as melodramas go this has the kitchen sink and all the white goods and fatigue set in by the time the woman in the wheelchair took a trip down the stairs. But the anaesthetic sequence is jaw droppingly good.

The gorgeous Isa Miranda is the blameless woman of irresistible beauty who brings only tragedy to the men who love her in Max Ophul's moving drama. It's a downbeat tale that offers little in the way of hope for its characters - apart from the one man who, through a seemingly insignificant twist of fate is never able to act upon his desire for her - and ends bleakly, but it's an absorbing watch that illustrates how we are defined not only by our own emotions but by the emotions we arouse in others.

Ahead of its time.

Watched On Amazon Prime. UK

Really surprising in its modern style! The script was a little too melodramatic for me but this is a strangely feminist tale. We see Isa Miranda being owned by the various people in her life from people of the past to the media- hence the title. She’s a celebrity whose only identity are the men in her life and this film does a decent job at exploring the frustration and hysteria of that. Though I feel it could have done a lot more than just fall into the melodrama that it does. Ophuls is a real talent behind the camera though and Isa is a wonderful talent in front of it.

A solid movie with good shots and tracking shots from Ophuls. I'm not sure if it's in any other print or edition of the movie but there's a production crew caught in the tracking shot over the terrace about 26 minutes in.

Watched on Amazon Prime 11/2/20

Not only was Ophuls fully formed in the 30s, but he was perhaps even more wild. I don't know how this relates to other Italian cinema of the 30s, but this is a stunning melodrama that whooshes and swoops through the brain like a dry run for Citizen Kane.

B+

Important note: I definitely do NOT have the film acumen to be properly evaluating a movie like this. That being said, wowzers! The camera wizardry in this one is outstanding. Had a bit of a tough time with the plot in the first half (the inclusion of the teacher skipping town on his family was strange to me, like, I know we're trying to hammer home the curse of her beauty AND get her out of school but ehhh), but in the end the landing is sticked. Could definitely see this going up on rewatch once I have more Ophüls under my belt.