Farewell to documentary legend Marcel Ophuls

Film lovers and world history lovers have just received sad news when Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Marcel Ophuls passed away at the age of 97.

Director Marcel Ophuls' family announced his passing on May 24, ending a tumultuous life and a tireless filmmaking career marked by memorable works.

Born in 1927 in Frankfurt (Germany), filmmaker Marcel Ophuls is the son of famous director Max Ophuls and actress Hilde Wall (both German).

In 1941, he fled to France with his father and directors Billy Wilder and Fritz Lang, then crossed the Pyrenees to the United States to escape Nazi persecution. He grew up in Hollywood and served in the US Army in Japan in 1946.

Returning to France in 1950, Marcel Ophuls began his career as an assistant director, working on his father's last film - "Lola Montès" - in 1955.

After an unsuccessful experiment with the fantasy feature film "Banana Skin" in 1963, starring the star couple Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jeanne Moreau, he turned to documentary filmmaking.

His most successful documentary film was "Hotel Terminus - The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie". This film won him the Oscar for Best Documentary in 1989.

However, his 1994 documentary "The Troubles We've Seen" about the war in Bosnia was not a commercial success.

He then spent several years living in seclusion in the south of France without producing any work.

In 2013, he returned with the travelogue "Un voyageur" (A traveler) and attracted a large audience at the Cannes Film Festival at that time.

In particular, the most notable work in Marcel Ophuls' career is probably "The Sorrow and the Pity" - a work that depicts life in the French city of Clermont Ferrand under the Vichy regime - the puppet government of Nazi Germany in France.

Despite being over four hours long, "The Sorrow and the Pity" touched the hearts of many, drawing audiences to theaters at a time when documentaries were rarely shown on the big screen.

Marcel Ophuls once had a philosophical view of his father's influence on him. He confided: "My father's influence helped me to remain humble about my achievements. I was born in the shadow of a genius and that kept me from becoming conceited."

The passing of Marcel Ophuls is a great loss to world cinema. He was not only a talented documentary filmmaker but also a courageous director, daring to face the dark corners of history and evoking profound thoughts about human nature in the most difficult moments. His legacy will continue to be a valuable lesson about the truth, courage and responsibility of the artist in the face of the flow of history./.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/vinh-biet-huyen-thoai-cua-dong-phim-tai-lieu-marcel-ophuls-post1040727.vnp