Plot
In New Orleans, a whip-wielding ringmaster announces to the crowd the “attraction of the century” and “the most interesting predator” of his circus: the former royal mistress Maria Dolorès Porriz y Montez, Countess von Landsfeld, known as Lola Montez. She is carried richly adorned into the circus ring to receive questions from the audience. Each question costs 25 cents, which are not intended as a payment for Lola Montez, as the ringmaster announces, since they will be donated by her to a correctional home forThe affair with Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt and Lola Montez are on their way to Rome in a carriage, but the composer, who writes pieces for Lola Montez to which she dances in front of an audience, notices that their carriage is followed by another. He reckons to be a mere lover, since Lola Montez will go on board the other carriage as soon as she wants to leave him. Both of them spend the night in an inn and Liszt wants to prevent Lola from leaving. He tears up the just finished farewell waltz and secretly tries to leave the common room, but Lola Montez catches him and they spend one last night together. The next morning they part ways and Lola Montez reads up the torn notes, where Liszt says that she at least remains faithful to his music.Childhood and youth
The ringmaster announces a change of scene and costume, as they will now deal with the childhood and youth of Lola Montez. A flashback shows the young Lola boarding a ship to Paris with her mother. While her mother shares a cabin with her lover, Lieutenant James, Lola Montez has to sleep in the dormitory with other girls. Once in Paris, her mother wants her to marry an old baron who was the family's banker. To avoid this fate, she escapes with Lieutenant James, who confesses his love to her, and they get married. At the beginning of the second act in the circus, the ringmaster claims that the marriage was happy, but a flashback shows that after five years Lola Montez is actually fleeing from her violent, constantly drunk and cheating husband. This is followed by the further life of Lola Montez, depicted in the ring by elaborate tableaux vivants and acted scenes. Lola Montez makes her debut as a dancer in Madrid, is kidnapped by a rich Russian, whose love she rejected, and is freed by the intervention of the French ambassador. During these performances, a doctor talks with the director of the circus, who is still disguised as a clown and counting the daily profits. The doctor warns him that Lola's heart is weak and that she should take care of herself. Lola tells now her story herself. She danced in Vienna at and was in love with the Kapellmeister. A short flashback shows how she found out on stage that he was married. She slapped the Kapellmeister while he was conducting the orchestra and then exposed him in front of his wife. At that time, the ringmaster visited her and offered her a contract with the circus, which she refused. In the circus, while the number of her lovers is read out, ranging from Richard Wagner toLola Montez and Ludwig I of Bavaria
Lola Montez meets a student hiking in the snowy mountains, who is offered a ride in her carriage if he shows her the way to Munich. Here Lola wants to make a career as a dancer, but she is not hired. Shortly before her departure, she begins an affair with Ferdinand von Freiberg, through whom she hopes to get in touch with King Ludwig I. She receives an audience with the king and complains about the lack of opportunities to perform. She clears any doubts about her body by tearing open her bodice in front of Ludwig I ("I have grown very well, do you want to see?"). The king arranges for her to appear as a dancer in the National Theatre, after which she wants to leave. He keeps her at court by commissioning a portrait of her, the completion of which he keeps delaying. She becomes his mistress, but also interferes more and more in politics. During the March Revolution of 1848, the citizens rebel against Lola Montez, who finally flees over the border to Austria at night with the help of the student she met on the way to Munich. She rejects the possibility of a simple life as the student's wife because something has broken in her and she can no longer love.Finale
The ringmaster announces that Lola Montez had finally remembered his offer to work together and came to the circus. She has been performing here every day for four months, ending her show by jumping from the top platform onto a padded mat without a net. The doctor asks the ringmaster to keep the net this time, but the ringmaster fears to disappoint the audience and removes the net. The jump shot from Montez' point of view leaves the final outcome open, but at the end she is seen sitting in an animal cage. The male spectators queue in front of the cage to kiss Lola Montez' hand for a dollar. The ringmaster confesses to Lola Montez that he could not exist without her. She replies resignedly: "Life goes on."Cast
* Martine Carol as Lola Montez * Peter Ustinov as Circus Master * Will Quadflieg as Franz Liszt * Anton Walbrook as Ludwig I, King of Bavaria * Oskar Werner as Student * Henri Guisol as Horseman Maurice * Lise Delamare as Mrs. Craigie, Lola's mother * Paulette Dubost as Josephine, Lola's maid * Jacqueline Cantrelle as friend of conductorProduction
''Lola Montès'' was planned as a major project that should put the theory of a European film into practice. Therefore, the film was shot in French, German and English. The German director Max Ophüls was initially critical of the material, but after studying the biography of Lola Montez he began to work on the script for a black and white film. The production companies expected the film to be a success right from the start and cast it with top-class actors. The French sex symbol of the 1950s Martine Carol was hired in September 1954 and received a fee of around 350,000 marks;“Whatever sum you will hear, don't forget to divide it by three. Because basically we are shooting three films, one German, one English and one French, since all three versions are shot one after the other with the original cast. So each of the three films will cost a sum that by no means can be called unusual."
Release
This was the last film directed by Ophüls before his death of a heart attack in March 1957. As originally shown in France in 1955, the audience sees the events of Lola Montès' life through the use of flashbacks. Use of the technique was criticized upon its release, and the movie did poorly at the box office. In response, the producers re-cut the film and shortened it in favor of a more chronological storyline, against the director's wishes. According to Roger Ebert, a "savagely butchered version was in circulation for a few years" following Ophüls' death. The film critic Andrew Sarris and others eventually showed improved versions, closer to the original, at the New York Film Festival in 1963 and 1968.Restoration
Certain elements remained missing and were believed lost, but the later discovery and restoration efforts by Technicolor artists of the lost footage allowed a new version to be edited according to Ophüls' original intentions. The color version of the film with missing footage was digitally restored by a small team of restoration artists including John Healy at Technicolor under the direction of Tom Burton. The black-and-white version of the film was repaired by Martina Müller and Werner Dütsch. The color version including lost footage was shown at the New York Film Festival according to the director's edit version from September 26 to October 12, 2008. ''Lola Montès'' was re-released by Rialto Pictures in November 2008 with the full Cinemascope aspect ratio restored and with five minutes of additional footage never before shown in any U.S. release. ''Lola Montès'' was released on DVD and Blu-ray in North America by The Criterion Collection in February 2010.Legacy
Roger Ebert lauded the film's camerawork and set design, but felt that Carol's "wooden ndshallow" performance as the titular character prevented the film from achieving greatness. Nonetheless, it is today among Ophüls' revered works. Dave Kehr called it a masterpiece, and wrote that "certainly this story of a courtesan's life is among the most emotionally plangent, visually ravishing works the cinema has to offer." The film also received five votes in theReferences
External links
* * * *