"By the time you read this letter, I may be dead..."
It seems I'm focusing on Vienna nowadays. After Haneke's fragments on the other day here is Max Ophüls' beautiful melodrama from one of the most romantic city in Europe. Let's travel back in time until 1900...
Why we love melodramas? Mostly because of their common feature: the more simple story, the higher drama. Their common denomination is the impossibility of happiness, the never happening love. Desperate romances, cruel parents, deadly triangles, fatal misunderstandings, train station good byes. But what could be the top of all melodramas? I think when the lovers even don't know each other. Within the genre it's not absurd concept at all. For example the tragedy of Ophüls' film plays with this feeling, the tragedy of an unknown woman...
I cannot and don't want to hide my enthusiasm about this film. And I like this feeling:) The originally German Max Ophüls was one of Kubrick's favorite directors, and this knowledge is not like some filmhistorical advertisement. This fact "comes down" every single second from the screen. The beautifully directed, complicated camera-movements, the professionally planned and carried out framing and lighting, the meaningful settings are creating an image of a maximalist film-auteur. Just really like Kubrick was. The whole thing is a real eye-candy for every cinephile.
How to show a woman who trapped by love? Look at this plan:
Even if you're not a fan of the genre of melodrama, just watch it because of its fluently and perfectly pronounced film language.
9/10
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