Although I've heard about him for years,I've constantly run into trouble when attempting to see a work from auteur Max Ophüls,from a power cut bringing my internet down,to two DVD players refusing to play his movie! Taking part in a French Challenge on ICM,I started looking for movies to view for the event,and stumbled upon a rare Ophüls title online,which led to me crossing my fingers,and opening this Werther's original.
The plot:
Arriving to a new town to be a magistrate, Werther finds his life to be at a satisfactory place,where he is treated respectfully at work,and his poems and violin compositions are received with praise. From the moment he sees Charlotte, Werther finds himself falling in love for the first time. Writing a special sonnet just for Charlotte,Werther soon discovers that his own sonnet has a tragic final verse.
View on the film:
Filming a classic German novel in France due to the build up to WWII taking place in Germany,co-writer/(with Hans Wilhelm and Fernand Crommelynck) director Max Ophüls sows silk Melodrama with the lavish stylisation of the Wiener Filme. Tracing Charlotte's footsteps with elegant tracking shots being swept across entire rooms, Ophüls gives Werther's love for Charlotte a texture of impending Melodrama darkness,via the light Charlotte brings into Werther's life being covered with deep shadows of misery that seep into Werther.
Tragically dying in 1941 at just 19 years old from typhoid, Annie Vernay gives an utterly enchanting performance as Charlotte,whose concern and care for Werther is expressed in a fragile manner that Vernay holds back from blossoming into the love that Werther desires. Reuniting with Ophüls, Pierre Richard-Willm gives a splendid performance as Werther,whose arrival in town is given a charismatic swing by Willm,which Willm's snaps into brittle isolated,as the final pages from the novel of Werther are turned.
The plot:
Arriving to a new town to be a magistrate, Werther finds his life to be at a satisfactory place,where he is treated respectfully at work,and his poems and violin compositions are received with praise. From the moment he sees Charlotte, Werther finds himself falling in love for the first time. Writing a special sonnet just for Charlotte,Werther soon discovers that his own sonnet has a tragic final verse.
View on the film:
Filming a classic German novel in France due to the build up to WWII taking place in Germany,co-writer/(with Hans Wilhelm and Fernand Crommelynck) director Max Ophüls sows silk Melodrama with the lavish stylisation of the Wiener Filme. Tracing Charlotte's footsteps with elegant tracking shots being swept across entire rooms, Ophüls gives Werther's love for Charlotte a texture of impending Melodrama darkness,via the light Charlotte brings into Werther's life being covered with deep shadows of misery that seep into Werther.
Tragically dying in 1941 at just 19 years old from typhoid, Annie Vernay gives an utterly enchanting performance as Charlotte,whose concern and care for Werther is expressed in a fragile manner that Vernay holds back from blossoming into the love that Werther desires. Reuniting with Ophüls, Pierre Richard-Willm gives a splendid performance as Werther,whose arrival in town is given a charismatic swing by Willm,which Willm's snaps into brittle isolated,as the final pages from the novel of Werther are turned.