Lola Montes

Dir. Max Ophüls. 1955. 116 mins. 35mm. With Martine Carol, Peter Ustinov, Anton Walbrook. In French with English subtitles. The final film by Max Ophüls presents the real-life story of the scandalous nineteenth-century courtesan Lola Montès as it might have been presented by circus showman P.T. Barnum. In breathtaking CinemaScope and eye-popping colour, spectacle competes with moments of tenderness and loss as Montès's life is replayed as an acrobatic fashion show version of Remembrance of Things Past. Peter Ustinov gives a deadpan performance as the circus master whose zeal for profits may conceal a deeper passion, as he summons up flashbacks of Montès's affairs with Franz Liszt and the King of Bavaria. 

Tickets: $15 ($11 seniors and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / free for children under 3 and Museum members at the Film Lover and Kids Premium levels and above). Order tickets online. (Members may contact members@movingimage.us with questions regarding online reservations.)