La Ronde (1950 film)

La Ronde
Theatrical poster
Directed by Max Ophüls
Produced by Ralph Baum
Sacha Gordine
Screenplay by Louis Ducreux
Kurt Feltz
Jacques Natanson
Max Ophüls
Based on La Ronde
by Arthur Schnitzler
Starring Simone Signoret
Narrated by Anton Walbrook
Music by Oscar Straus
Cinematography Christian Matras
Edited by Léonide Azar
Distributed by Commercial Pictures (US)
Release date
  • 27 September 1950 (1950-09-27)
Running time
 95 minutes
Country France
Language French

La Ronde is a 1950 French film directed by Max Ophüls and based on Arthur Schnitzler's 1897 play La Ronde.

Set in Vienna in 1900, it shows ten amorous encounters across the social spectrum, from a street prostitute to a nobleman, with each scene involving one character from the previous episode. The French term 'La Ronde' can mean any of the following: circling around, doing the rounds, a round of drinks, a circular dance.

The film won the BAFTA award for Best Film and was nominated for two Academy Awards; for Best Writing and Best Art Direction.[1]

Plot summary

The master of ceremonies opens proceedings by telling the audience that they will see various episodes in the endless waltz of love. A prostitute takes a soldier under a bridge. The soldier picks up a chambermaid at a dance hall. The chambermaid willingly succumbs to the son of her employers. The young man starts an affair with the young wife of an older businessman. She then has an edgy discussion in bed with her husband. The husband takes a shopgirl to a private dining room and gets her drunk. The shopgirl falls for a poet, who is pursuing an affair with an actress. The actress invites a count to visit her in bed next morning. That evening, he gets drunk and ends up in the bed of the prostitute, so completing the circle.

Cast

In order of appearance:

Production

Although at the time of production, Schnitzler's son was still enforcing his father's stipulation that the play — Reigen (or La Ronde) — should never be performed or adapted, Ophuls was able to secure the rights to it because of Schnitzler's additional stipulation that his French-language translator was to own the rights to the French version.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "NY Times: La Ronde". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 December 2008.
  • La Ronde on IMDb
  • La Ronde at AllMovie
  • Rafferty, Terrence. "La ronde: Vicious Circle". Criterion Collection. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
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