La Tendre Ennemie

Director: Max Ophuls

1936 / 69min / 35mm

From the beyond, three dead men watch and endeavor to intervene as the very-much-alive Annette (Simone Berriau), a woman whom they all loved madly—and were ultimately destroyed by—endeavors to buffalo her daughter into a loveless marriage of convenience. Part boulevard comedy roundelay, part supernatural drama, and altogether a miracle of elaborate yet consistently lucid construction. “A mighty masterwork that’s as rare and unheralded as it is brisk and modest… A metaphysical comedic romance… Should be mandatory viewing in film schools, as a lesson in the unity of technical and lyrical imagination.” —The New Yorker

Distributor: Gaumont

35mm print courtesy of BFI National Archive

Part of Max Ophuls: Motion Within Motion