La Ronde (originally published in German as Reigen), is a play written by Arthur Schnitzler and first published in 1903. This work reflects the sexual morality of the different social boundaries and professions of Vienna. By having this diversity of characters, Schnitzler offers insight into the erotic interactions across Vienna’s social structure. In French, “ronde” means round, which alludes to how each consecutive scene includes a character from the previous scene, and by the end, all the characters are associated with one another. The drama contains ten characters, with the only thing linking them together is their sexual desire. In 1950, Max Ophüls directed a film based on Arthur Schnitzler’s La Ronde. The changes that Ophüls made
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Max Ophüls’s film La Ronde is a witty, frivolous look at lust and infidelity in Vienna during the 1900s, whereas the play is set in Vienna in the 1890s. The film uses circular, visual motifs, emphasizing the “ronde” in La Ronde, where Ophüls uses a carousel as the central motif, which foreshadows the film’s events. The fundamental character of the motion picture La Ronde is the meneur de jeu (game master), who plays as an omnipotent, linking figure who initiates the characters’ relations. The meneur de jeu is not a part of Schnitzler’s original, dramatic work. The game master, portrayed by Anton Walbrook, controls the carousel of love and manipulates his characters. His characters waltz from lover to lover in order to …show more content…
This is displayed both in Schnitzler’s work and Ophüls’s work. In the drama and the film, the characters are not identified by their names, but rather named after their role. There is no backstory for the characters, rather they are only presented as stereotypes of their occupation. They were designed to depict societal expectations and how each social class behaves. The reason the characters are simply identified as their role is that the audience can vicariously delve into the film or the play. The simplicity of the roles provides familiarity for the audience. In Viennese society during this time, infidelity was frowned upon, yet a large majority of Viennese citizens engaged in this promiscuous behavior. Schnitzler exposes the double standards that not only men but also women of all social classes possess libidos that must be
Max Ophüls’s film La Ronde is a witty, frivolous look at lust and infidelity in Vienna during the 1900s, whereas the play is set in Vienna in the 1890s. The film uses circular, visual motifs, emphasizing the “ronde” in La Ronde, where Ophüls uses a carousel as the central motif, which foreshadows the film’s events. The fundamental character of the motion picture La Ronde is the meneur de jeu (game master), who plays as an omnipotent, linking figure who initiates the characters’ relations. The meneur de jeu is not a part of Schnitzler’s original, dramatic work. The game master, portrayed by Anton Walbrook, controls the carousel of love and manipulates his characters. His characters waltz from lover to lover in order to …show more content…
This is displayed both in Schnitzler’s work and Ophüls’s work. In the drama and the film, the characters are not identified by their names, but rather named after their role. There is no backstory for the characters, rather they are only presented as stereotypes of their occupation. They were designed to depict societal expectations and how each social class behaves. The reason the characters are simply identified as their role is that the audience can vicariously delve into the film or the play. The simplicity of the roles provides familiarity for the audience. In Viennese society during this time, infidelity was frowned upon, yet a large majority of Viennese citizens engaged in this promiscuous behavior. Schnitzler exposes the double standards that not only men but also women of all social classes possess libidos that must be