Cinema
Liebelei
Max Ophüls · 1933
Synopsis
In Vienna, in the days of the Empire, Lieutenant Fritz Lobheimer is having an affair with the Baroness Eggersdorf. One evening at the opera, he meets Christine, the daughter of an orchestra musician, who has come with her friend Mizzi, and the two fall in love. His friend, Lieutenant Theo Kaiser, had warned him against the baroness. The baron one day discovers proof of his wife's infidelity and, true to the customs of his rank, challenges Fritz to a duel.
Context
The film, produced by Elite Tonfilm, is based on the play of the same title by Arthur Schnitzler, already adapted twice for the cinema. Magda Schneider plays Christine, alongside Wolfgang Liebeneiner and Luise Ullrich. It was released in early 1933, in the weeks when the Nazis were taking power and Ophüls was leaving Germany. The director immediately shot a French version, Une histoire d'amour, with several of the same performers; in France, the German version kept its title.
Who it is for
A sound film of about an hour and a half; the German version is longer than the French version.
Prizes and reception
The film that made Ophüls known as a director, and the most acclaimed of his early films.