Director
Max Ophuls

Cinematographer
Christian Matras

Cast
Narrator : Anton Walbrook
Leocadie, the prostitute : Simone Signoret
Franz, the soldier : Serge Reggiani
Maid : Simone Simon
Alfred : Daniel Gélin
Emma Breitkopf : Danielle Darrieux
Mr Breitkopf : Fernand Gravey
Grisette : Odette Joyeux
Robert Kuhlemkampf : Jean-Louis Barrault
Actress : Isa Miranda
Count : Gérard Philipe


Enchanting, subtle, thought-provoking - and something of a one-off. Max Ophuls' 1950 black and white film plays with the 'rules' of film making - in its mix of realism and fantasy - in a very unusual way.

La ronde is about the merry-go-round of love and sex. Based on a Schnitzler play, it is set in 19th-century Vienna and is in itself a 'rondo': a series of sketches, each six or seven minutes long. A new character is introduced and has an affair with the character introduced in the previous sketch, who is then left behind when a newer character enters for the next. At the end the circle is completed: we are brought back to Leocadie, the first. The narrator not only relates and introduces the events, he also takes part in them, stepping into and out of them as a minor or major participant.

It was banned in America for many years, so it clearly comes recommended...