FILM · 1955 · FRANCE
Lola Montès
- Directed by
- Max Ophüls
- Runtime
- 116 min
- Studio
- Florida Films, Gamma Film, Union-Film GmbH
13 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
Lola Montes, previously a great adventuress, is reduced to being the attraction of a circus after having been the lover of various important men.
Summary: TMDB
All facts (13)
- #001
Lola Montès was director Max Ophüls's final film and his only color film.
- #002
Director Max Ophüls surrounded Martine Carol (Lola Montès) with a strong cast, led by Anton Walbrook as King Ludwig I, Oskar Werner as a revolutionary student and Sir Peter Ustinov as the circus manager. He shot the film in three different versions — French, German and English — in Germany, Austria and France (Ustinov wrote the English dialogue). He then worked on the three different versions with three different editors, each in their own room.
- #003
In the nude painting of Lola commissioned by King Ludwig, the model strikes the same pose as the model in Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres's 1814 painting "Grand Odalisque".
- #004
It is the only film to have been shown at three New York Film Festivals.
- #005
Lola, arguably Max Ophüls's masterpiece, was a fiasco at its first screening and was ruthlessly butchered by its producers, who cut up the original negative and rearranged its complex structure into chronological order. After their eventual bankruptcies, the legendary New Wave producer Pierre Braunberger (Shoot the Piano Player) acquired the rights and released a limited restoration in 1969 to great acclaim.
- #006
Assuming the film is set in 1853, the year Lola Montez last appeared on stage in the United States, one US dollar would be worth 39.87 dollars in 2023. Men queued up to pay the equivalent of 40 dollars each to kiss her hand.
- #007
At the 42nd minute, a long tracking shot begins, following Lola across the circus ring during a re-enactment of her journey to Warsaw. Twice during the shot the camera moves forward, causing the woman to leave the frame. This was done to discreetly introduce a stunt performer to carry out some of the more demanding skills, such as walking the wire (note the more muscular legs), and to return to the real Martine Carol just before the shot ends.
- #008
In a lavish color circus, marks line up for a kiss from the famous adventuress Lola, played by French sex symbol Martine Carol, while the circus manager Sir Peter Ustinov begins his spiel and the flashbacks start. Max Ophüls's final work — and his only film in color and widescreen — was the most expensive French film made up to that time; his ever-moving camera glides, dips and rises among dazzling sets and costumes; the oscillation between the vulgarity of the circus and the romance of the flashbacks emphasizes the difference between reality and memory; each flashback has its own color scheme.
- #009
According to Mylène Demongeot's memoirs, Martine Carol was booed at the premiere of this film. The film later became a masterpiece around the world.
- #010
This film is part of spine number 503 of the Criterion Collection.
- #011
The film's cast includes one Oscar winner, Sir Peter Ustinov, and one Oscar nominee, Oskar Werner.
- #012
Both Anton Walbrook and Martine Carol died of heart attacks in 1967.
- #013
The producers cut and re-edited the negatives three times, which led to the film's destruction.
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