Lola Montès (1955)

Ringmaster Peter Ustinov recounts the events of dancer and courtesan Lola Montès’s life.
Events in Lola Montès’ life are related by a ringmaster (Peter Ustinov) in a circus where she’s now an object of morbid curiosity; flashbacks show her own memories. A film about objectification, patriarchy, spectacle and storytelling itself, then, is delivered with great visual panache.
1955 France, Federal Republic of Germany
Directed by
Max Ophuls
Produced by
André Haguet, Alfred Zappelli, Anton Schelkopf, Emil E. Reinegger
Written by
Max Ophuls, Claude Heymann
Featuring
Martine Carol, Peter Ustinov, Anton Walbrook
Running time
140 minutes