Lola Montès (1955)

Croce praises the film as Ophüls’s boldest vision of cinema’s power to revere and mock dreams. He singles out the fluid camerawork and argues that Martine Carol’s limited charisma serves the film’s self-reflexive vision.

Brody regards the film as a recovered masterwork whose grandiosity becomes its tragic, sumptuous subject. He praises Ophüls’s spectacle for capturing both the passion of performance and the self-abasement of celebrity.

Parkinson considers the film a visually sumptuous, politically incisive must-see, despite reservations about its psychological depth. He especially praises the photography, sets, costumes, score and Ophüls’s fluid widescreen camerawork.

French presents the film as an eye-opening restoration of Ophüls’s final work. He singles out the restoration and its acute commentary for praise.

The available page identifies this as a review, but gives no readable critical verdict. It provides no accessible detail about what the critic praises or criticizes.

The critic finds the film unwieldy and emotionally muted in parts, but ultimately invigorating. The swirling camera and vivid circus pageantry are singled out for praise.

The review finds the film an elegant but lifeless treatment that rarely builds sympathy for Lola. It praises Ophuls’s lush framing and calls Anton Walbrook fine as the king.

The critic presents the restored film as an audacious, lasting achievement that anticipates modern celebrity culture. They praise its circus framing and theatrical visual style, especially the way it makes spectators aware that observation is shaped by artifice.

Osborne finds the film visually revolutionary but says its style outweighs its story. She praises its inventive, oppressive circus sequences and Ophuls’ visual imagination.