Lovers of the films of Max Ophuls always return to La Ronde (1950). Its intricate, revolving story, visually represented by a highly stylised carousel, is certainly gracefully told. Each character in the film moves on from one partner to another, prostitute to soldier to servant to rich young man to erring wife to worldly husband to midinette to writer to actress to foppish aristocrat and back to the prostitute, and the narrative seems full of wisdom about the shallows of the human heart. I've always found the film entertaining, but have never managed to get really enthusiastic about its jovial worldliness, its elegant pretence that in matters of desire we are always in Vienna in 1900.

LRB 9 October 2008 | PDF Download