Lola Montès
Thankfully Lola Montès has been restored to Ophüls’ original cut. The studio version, released after its disastrous 1955 Paris premiere, stripped out over twenty minutes, added narration, and reassembled the story into a flat, linear melodrama. The result flopped at the box office and ended Ophüls’ career. Only in 2008 was the film restored to something close to his vision.
Seen properly, it’s startlingly beautiful. Lola is paraded in the circus as a man-eater, punished for her past, but the flashbacks show a woman betrayed by love, drifting across Europe, struggling to preserve her dignity. Martine Carol lends her wounded poise, Peter Ustinov oozes cynicism as the ringmaster, while Anton Walbrook and Oskar Werner give depth in smaller roles.
Visually, the film is extraordinary. Ophüls’ camera glides through rich colours, elaborate circus tableaux, and Lola’s extravagant costumes. The German sequence drags, but elsewhere the pacing works. Lola Montès feels doubly rescued—from the studio’s scissors and from her own legend—moving from wreckage to restoration on both sides of the screen.
Seen properly, it’s startlingly beautiful. Lola is paraded in the circus as a man-eater, punished for her past, but the flashbacks show a woman betrayed by love, drifting across Europe, struggling to preserve her dignity. Martine Carol lends her wounded poise, Peter Ustinov oozes cynicism as the ringmaster, while Anton Walbrook and Oskar Werner give depth in smaller roles.
Visually, the film is extraordinary. Ophüls’ camera glides through rich colours, elaborate circus tableaux, and Lola’s extravagant costumes. The German sequence drags, but elsewhere the pacing works. Lola Montès feels doubly rescued—from the studio’s scissors and from her own legend—moving from wreckage to restoration on both sides of the screen.
Mini Review: Thankfully Lola Montès was restored in 2008 after the studio’s cuts in 1955 ripped out its heart. Ophüls’ vision emerges as dazzling and humane: Lola paraded as a circus “man-eater,” yet revealed in flashbacks as tragic, betrayed, clinging to dignity. Carol brings poise, Ustinov cynicism, Walbrook and Werner depth. With jewel-like colour and surreal pageantry, it moves from wreckage to restoration on both sides of the screen.
Watch the Trailer