The main story where Anton Walbrook presents and finishes the film is excellent. And so is every scene where he interferes in the subplot to help the characters in their love-affairs.
The problem is that the ten substories are so weak in the dialogue and the plot. They are all about love-encounters that end up in slightly different ways. Who cares? When you're finally start to wonder what's going to happen to the most interesting character (i.e. The maid) she disappears and her lover (The student) now has a pointless encounter with a married woman after which we see her in a scene with her husband.
It's interesting to see how the director, Ophüls, plays around in this one with strange camera angles, shadows and symbolic items, but it doesn't help when the rest of the movie is a long film's journey into a blessed ending.
A very simple but easy rule to judge if a film is too long or just boring is to count the times you've reached for your wrist watch. During this one, I had a numerous reaches, so the day-after impression of the film is unfortunately disappointing.
The problem is that the ten substories are so weak in the dialogue and the plot. They are all about love-encounters that end up in slightly different ways. Who cares? When you're finally start to wonder what's going to happen to the most interesting character (i.e. The maid) she disappears and her lover (The student) now has a pointless encounter with a married woman after which we see her in a scene with her husband.
It's interesting to see how the director, Ophüls, plays around in this one with strange camera angles, shadows and symbolic items, but it doesn't help when the rest of the movie is a long film's journey into a blessed ending.
A very simple but easy rule to judge if a film is too long or just boring is to count the times you've reached for your wrist watch. During this one, I had a numerous reaches, so the day-after impression of the film is unfortunately disappointing.