Editing Max Ophüls (section)

== Life ==

=== Youth and early career ===
Max Ophüls was born in [[Saarbrücken]], Germany,<ref>{{cite book|title=501 Movie Directors|editor-first=Steven Jay|editor-last=Schneider|publisher=Cassell Illustrated|location=London|year=2007|page=125|isbn=9781844035731|oclc=1347156402}}</ref> the son of Leopold Oppenheimer, a [[Jewish]] textile manufacturer and owner of several textile shops in Germany, and his wife Helene Oppenheimer (née Bamberger). He took the [[pseudonym]] Ophüls during the early part of his theatrical career so that, should he fail, it would not embarrass his father.{{sfn|Hollinger|1986|p=271}}

Initially envisioning an acting career, he started as a stage actor in 1919 and played at the [[Theater Aachen|Aachen Theatre]] from 1921 to 1923. He then worked as a theater director, becoming the first director at the city theater of [[Dortmund]]. Ophüls moved into [[theatre]] production in 1924. He became creative director of the [[Burgtheater]] in [[Vienna]] in 1926. {{cn span|Having had 200 plays to his credit,|date=August 2021}} he turned to film production in 1929, when he became a dialogue director under [[Anatole Litvak]] at [[Universum Film AG|UFA]] in Berlin. He worked throughout Germany and directed his first film in 1931, the comedy short ''Dann schon lieber Lebertran'' (literally ''In This Case, Rather [[Cod-Liver Oil]]'').

Of his early films, the most acclaimed is ''[[Liebelei (film)|Liebelei]]'' (1933), which included a number of the characteristic elements for which he was to become known: luxurious sets, a feminist attitude, and a duel between a younger and an older man.

It was at the Burgtheater that Ophüls met the actress Hilde Wall.{{sfn|Seibel|2009|p=122}} They were married in 1926.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thedailystar.net/showbiz/int%E2%80%99l-film/max-ophuls-1330891|title=Max Ophüls|date=2016-12-17|work=The Daily Star|access-date=2017-10-13|language=en}}</ref>

=== Exile and post-war career ===
Predicting the [[Nazi]] ascendancy, Ophüls, a Jew, fled to France in 1933 after the [[Reichstag fire]] and became a French citizen in 1938. After the fall of France to Germany, he travelled through Switzerland and Italy, where he had directed ''[[Everybody's Woman]]'' (1934). In July 1941, before leaving for the United States, he stayed in Portugal, in [[Estoril]], at Casa Mar e Sol.<ref>[[Exiles Memorial Center]].</ref> Once in Hollywood, championed by director [[Preston Sturges]], a longtime fan, he directed a number of distinguished films.{{Citation needed|date=October 2017}}

His first [[Hollywood (film industry)|Hollywood]] film was the [[Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.]] vehicle, ''[[The Exile (1947 film)|The Exile]]'' (1947). Ophüls' ''[[Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948 film)|Letter from an Unknown Woman]]'' (1948), derived from a [[Stefan Zweig]] novella, is the most highly regarded of the American films.{{sfn|Bock|Bergfelder|2009|p=574}} ''[[Caught (1949 film)|Caught]]'' (1949), and ''[[The Reckless Moment]]'' (1949) followed, before his return to Europe in 1950.

Back in France, he directed and collaborated on the adaptation of [[Arthur Schnitzler]]'s ''[[La Ronde (1950 film)|La Ronde]]'' (1950), which won the 1951 [[BAFTA Award for Best Film]], and ''[[Lola Montès]]'' (1955) starring [[Martine Carol]] and [[Peter Ustinov]], as well as ''[[Le Plaisir]]'' and ''[[The Earrings of Madame de...]]'' (1953), the latter with [[Danielle Darrieux]] and [[Charles Boyer]], which capped his career.  Ophüls died from [[Rheumatic fever|rheumatic heart disease]] on 26 March 1957 in Hamburg, while shooting interiors on ''[[The Lovers of Montparnasse]]'', and was buried in [[Le Père Lachaise Cemetery]] in Paris. This final film was completed by his friend [[Jacques Becker]].

Ophüls's son [[Marcel Ophüls]] became a documentary-film maker, director of ''[[The Sorrow and the Pity]]'' and other films examining the nature of political power.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.hollywood.com/celebrities/marcel-ophuls-58834936/|title=Marcel Ophuls {{!}} Biography and Filmography {{!}} 1927|last=Staff|first=Hollywood.com|date=2014-11-21|work=Hollywood.com|access-date=2017-10-13|language=en-US}}</ref>

The annual Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis in [[Saarbrücken]] is named after him.