IMDb RATING
7.2/10
6.1K
YOUR RATING
When she is reduced to appearing in a circus, a notorious beauty thinks back on her past loves.When she is reduced to appearing in a circus, a notorious beauty thinks back on her past loves.When she is reduced to appearing in a circus, a notorious beauty thinks back on her past loves.
- Awards
- 1 nomination
Héléna Manson
- Lieutenant James' Sister
- (as Helena Manson)
Carl Esmond
- Doctor
- (as Willy Eichberger)
Béatrice Arnac
- Circus Rider
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDirector Max Ophüls' final movie, and his only movie in color.
- GoofsWhen the Circus Master first tries to recruit Lola, he lists San Francisco as an important North American city, and includes Buffalo Bill in a list of major circus figures. This scene is set shortly before Montez left for Bavaria, so it must be late 1845 or early 1846. San Francisco was called Yerba Buena until 1847, and the name Buffalo Bill was first applied in the 1860s to Buffalo Bill Cody, who was born in 1846.
- Quotes
Lola Montes: When a man is attractive, and you are terribly attractive, it's easy to yield, to hold on, to go almost too far. Now we are embarrassed by all those follies. We are starting to watch each other. We are trying to find each other again, to recognize ourselves, and our answers become questions.
- Alternate versionsThe film was shot in three language versions: German, French and English. There was a fourth version, silent, used as a working copy; this was eventually found at the Luxembourg Cinematheque.
- ConnectionsEdited into Histoire(s) du cinéma: Fatale beauté (1994)
Featured review
the most flawed masterpiece
Of all movies that appear here and there in lists of greatest movies of all-time Lola Montès is the most criticized. Ranked by some as one of the 10 greatest, the movie suffers from some slow scenes and a wooden-acted protagonist played by Martine Carol. But the overall effect is mesmerizing. Cinema´s history isn´t made only of perfect movies.
It is the only color movie that Max Ophüls directed and the last of his career. You could only imagine the genius he would be in color films. The circus that links all the facts is a example of decadence in its greens and reds that many advertising-style filmmakers would kill for to get the same effect to show beauty. Ophüls is subtle and the most elegant director that has ever lived. He is one of the fundamental cinema masters (in the same category of Griffith, Chaplin, Eisenstein, Buñuel, Renoir, Welles, Bergman, Ford, Hitchcock, Wilder, Visconti, Mizoguchi, Truffaut, etc) and probably the less seen of them.
Lola Montès received poor critics at the time of its release but was recognized as great art and a summing up of Ophüls´ themes by the French nouvelle vague critics. You find in it some interesting comments about the way the society created by men destroy women and their paths to happiness. Ophüls was an author not a historian. He wasn´t interested in Lola as a historic figure but as a celebrity humiliated by her public just because she tried to be free. Ophüls has decided to make the movie after noticing how press used to treat the crisis of Judy Garland and Zsa Zsa Gabor affairs.
If you want to see other incredible films of the director watch to Libelei, Letter from an Unknown Woman and La Ronde.
It is the only color movie that Max Ophüls directed and the last of his career. You could only imagine the genius he would be in color films. The circus that links all the facts is a example of decadence in its greens and reds that many advertising-style filmmakers would kill for to get the same effect to show beauty. Ophüls is subtle and the most elegant director that has ever lived. He is one of the fundamental cinema masters (in the same category of Griffith, Chaplin, Eisenstein, Buñuel, Renoir, Welles, Bergman, Ford, Hitchcock, Wilder, Visconti, Mizoguchi, Truffaut, etc) and probably the less seen of them.
Lola Montès received poor critics at the time of its release but was recognized as great art and a summing up of Ophüls´ themes by the French nouvelle vague critics. You find in it some interesting comments about the way the society created by men destroy women and their paths to happiness. Ophüls was an author not a historian. He wasn´t interested in Lola as a historic figure but as a celebrity humiliated by her public just because she tried to be free. Ophüls has decided to make the movie after noticing how press used to treat the crisis of Judy Garland and Zsa Zsa Gabor affairs.
If you want to see other incredible films of the director watch to Libelei, Letter from an Unknown Woman and La Ronde.
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Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- The Sins of Lola Montes
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- FRF 650,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $120,306
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $12,569
- Oct 12, 2008
- Gross worldwide
- $303,175
- Runtime1 hour 56 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 2.55 : 1
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