My 5,000th film recorded on Letterboxd. I rightfully chose one I've wanted to see for a very long time.

"Eternity--what does that mean?"

A glowing, simple romance in companionship with the effervescence of Mozart, the heart-warming of Brahms' lieder, and Beethoven's deepest dramatics. An amazing film even without the prized layers and motion Ophuls would later create to further his cinematic aspirations, unleashing transcendent human displays of love and tragedy--be it a French roundelay or an American noir. Liebelei gifts us an earlier, more rudimentary look into the imbalanced world in which society's formality and hierarchy aims its distasteful gaze across the courageous and non-rational dictates of pure emotional free-fall, fomenting pain and estrangement where once, and often only briefly, there stood hope.

Ophüls masterpiece before exiting Germany, set in the turn-of-the-century Vienna, in which love and "liebelei" (flirtations) are the main recipe. This brilliant introspective work assigns a great relevance on the emotions and inner thoughts of the characters. Scenes consist in close-ups, landscapes speaking that which characters can't put into words, and prolonged shots of the facial expressions of the characters while they are being told something, while we wait for some kind of response from them, like watching someone in the face without blinking. It is one of the earliest "talky" films I've seen that assigns such a big importance in the power of "reacting", which constitutes, at the end of the day, an essential component of acting itself.

This is unquestionably his magnum opus, and hands down, my favorite film of his so far!

99/100

"Wie willst' denn leben, ohne Uniform?"

Two philandering Viennese officers take up with a pair of friends they meet at the opera only for previous dalliances to come tragically back into play.

There are a couple of visually stunning moments but generally it's amazing just how much this captures the feel and themes of Ophuls later work without him yet having the opulent, ostentatious trademarks at his disposal. Instead we get fully realised characters and setting and emotions, all things that place this firmly alongside Letter From an Unknown Woman or La Ronde even if he is just starting to make his camera dance.

The film moves from vibrancy to tragedy extremely well, equally at home at the opera, having the lead escape from a returning husband and in a snow filled field as the romantic plot implodes.

Far more than just Ophuls Juvenalia, it's a superb film

Film 27/100 in my 100 to watch in 2016
letterboxd.com/owene73/list/100-films-to-watch-in-2016-1/

I must admit that it took a while before I got caught in the story. At first glance it felt like another sugar sweet love story without much intrigue, but half-way through the movie things started shaping and got more moving. The sense of what was going to happen started sinking in. Max Ophüls shows a elegant way of filming and capturing the subtle emotions of a scene regardless if it's happy or troubled and can be proud of this movie made so early in his directorial career.

One waltz and we're done for: him, her, me.

It was very interesting going back to one of Max Ophuls' first German films and seeing that minus the budgets for lavish sets, big stars, he was making very similar films to what he was making about 30 years later at the end of his career. Wolfgang Liebeneiner is very good in the lead role, but the rest of the cast wasn't very good, which is highlighted by Ophuls' great choice to keep the camera on female lead Magda Schneider's face during a big moment late in the film, but she isn't able to pull off what should be an incredibly emotional moment. Great seeing Ophuls' signature gliding camera in its early stages here (like in the standout carriage scene), though the ending wasn't handled perfectly, he was already well on his way to being the master of the gorgeous, elegant melodrama.

Senseless tragedy owed to an archaic code of honor, owed to proud men with everything to lose — Ophüls loves his duels, and his epic tales of love lost never fail to fuck me up.

Not Quite Ophüls: there are only a couple elegant long takes in this early Max Ophüls work from his German period, namely one comparatively modest one that tracks one dude sneaking out from an affair while avoiding being seen by the cuckolded husband by nimbly climbing around a column. But you know what? Ophüls is so, so much more than just elegant long takes, and far more of what Ophüls would become is already there than you'd think for a 1933 effort. There's the refinement, the comic-melancholic tone, the notion that men live by a code that dooms them to tragedy or death. In fact, this is essentially a dry run for The Earrings of Madame de..., and much closer than one would think.

not much to say other than it was pretty much perfect. Duty and dreams conflicting with love’s rightful course and acknowledgement. All the better if you have the camera to glide and span and rest and remain to express it like there were never a higher word.

This is a crazy good movie how did this guy start out with a banger like that??

Seeing Magda schneider makes me believe in the whole good genes theory. Who care if schnitzler and Ophüls got erased by the political party who worships at the altar of the schneider family ... But then again I don't know my history so don't hold me to this take

fundamental para os amantes do Ophüls tardio. impressionante o domínio do humor e do trágico, da atmosfera e de seus temas favoritos que o diretor já demonstra nesse seu terceiro longa metragem (aos 30 anos), em seu terceiro ano como diretor, pouco antes do exílio.

Eternity? What do you mean, eternity? For all eternity I’ll love you.

A love story in imperial Viena. It’s hard for me to say much having only seen one Ophüls film. Looking forward to watch Letter from an Unknown Woman and Madame de..., often said to comprise a triptych with Liebelei.
For the time being, some highlights:
- The opening opera sequence, where every character is present and the society’s reigning hierarchy is promptly stated.
- Their moving pledge of eternal love while riding across the snow-covered woods, a setting we come back to for the final scene.
- The transition between Fritz dancing with Christine and Fritz dancing with the baroness.
- The baron trying the key to Fritz’s apartment.
- Christine’s voice cracking during her recital.
- The prolonged close-up of Magda Schneider’s face reacting to the devastating news.

romy schneider and her mother are the same person ?!?

Find the full review here: wp.me/s3waMl-liebelei

For me the high point was Luise Ullrich as the sassy Mizzi. She seemed familiar to me, so I looked her up and was delighted to discover that some 40 years later, she played Oma in Fassbinder's Eight Hours Don't Make a Day!

Max Ophüls ve kamerası ...

Honestly surprised by the development of story. What I thought would be a boring drama ended up being an interesting romance. Germany pre WW2 for the win!

“I forgive your repentance!”

“What is eternally?”

“How close was I to sleep before I saw him?
Yes, love and sorrow go hand in hand.
Or will the moon in its orbit laugh. 
What a lovely night!”