Lola Montès (1955) review

I strongly disliked this final film from Ophüls the first time I watched it (well over a decade ago!), although I swore to revisit it, especially after watching (and loving) some of his masterworks, like La Ronde, Le Plaisir and Earrings of Madame de.... Though my original review was unspeakably harsh - quelle surprise, indeed - I was onto something: this is a gorgeous but undeniably hollow and frustratingly fractured picture, one in which its director's energy is focused almost entirely on the style and technical aspects instead of character analysis: his title hussy (a criminally bland Martine Carol) is little more than a cipher, exchanging hands from man to man (from Liszt to the King of Bavaria!) and not appearing to be more than a pretty statue. Ophüls' tracking shots are amazing, and the circus scenes are colorful - with Peter Ustinov as ringleader - which provide eye-candy when the constantly drifting narrative goes from its frame story to its flashbacks.