This is the second version of a well known tale;the first was made in the silent era;the third,"Christine" ,a Pierre-Gaspard Huit effort ,was made to capitalize on Romy Schneider's huge success in the late fifties:she took on her mother Magda's most famous part.
Max Ophuls 'work is much superior:more than the 1958 Christine ,it shows the difference between the two lovers's milieus:the dashing officer in his aristocratic world and the young girl's working class ;the scene at the opera theater with its cheap seats is revealing.For the boy,the girl is only a liebelei :hadn't Franz been killed,it's not sure that His love would have lasted.Christine's love is sincere ,she loves the officer with all her heart ,but her lover's world is not the same as hers ,his friend's relationship with Mizzi makes love a figure of fun (the scene when the husband unexpectedly enters the apartment) The final scenes climax the movie:the song which Christine performs on stage looks like a dirge and sounds like an omen ;the duel-which predates another Ophuls movie "Madame De..." and the heroine's suicide .
Most of Ophuls works deal with woman's plight :his heroines are born to suffer : "la signora di tutti" "letters from an unknown woman" " Sans Lendemain" "Madame De " "Yoshiwara"...even when he chose real characters (Sophie Chotek in "De Mayerling A Sarajevo" or "Lola Montes") ,he made them the victims of a male society.In his canon,only the Courtezanes (Mizzi) or the whores ("Le Plaisir") who accept the rules of the game of the macho society can get away.
Max Ophuls 'work is much superior:more than the 1958 Christine ,it shows the difference between the two lovers's milieus:the dashing officer in his aristocratic world and the young girl's working class ;the scene at the opera theater with its cheap seats is revealing.For the boy,the girl is only a liebelei :hadn't Franz been killed,it's not sure that His love would have lasted.Christine's love is sincere ,she loves the officer with all her heart ,but her lover's world is not the same as hers ,his friend's relationship with Mizzi makes love a figure of fun (the scene when the husband unexpectedly enters the apartment) The final scenes climax the movie:the song which Christine performs on stage looks like a dirge and sounds like an omen ;the duel-which predates another Ophuls movie "Madame De..." and the heroine's suicide .
Most of Ophuls works deal with woman's plight :his heroines are born to suffer : "la signora di tutti" "letters from an unknown woman" " Sans Lendemain" "Madame De " "Yoshiwara"...even when he chose real characters (Sophie Chotek in "De Mayerling A Sarajevo" or "Lola Montes") ,he made them the victims of a male society.In his canon,only the Courtezanes (Mizzi) or the whores ("Le Plaisir") who accept the rules of the game of the macho society can get away.