Marcel Ophuls, Director of ‘The Sorrow and the Pity,’ Dies at 97

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Renowned Oscar-winning filmmaker Marcel Ophuls, known for his thought-provoking documentaries such as “The Sorrow and the Pity,” which gained international acclaim despite its controversial nature, passed away at the age of 97.

The New York Times learned about his death from his grandson, Andreas-Benjamin Seyfert, who did not disclose any information regarding the cause or circumstances surrounding it.

In a nutshell, Ophuls, Max Ophuls’ son who had dreams of creating light-hearted musicals and romances, found himself confined by his success in documentary filmmaking. However, his groundbreaking work, “The Sorrow and the Pity,” which delved into the involvement of the French people with their Nazi occupiers during World War II, significantly raised the status of documentaries among the general public. His subsequent projects, including examinations of the conflict in Northern Ireland (“A Sense of Loss”), the Nuremberg war crime trials (“The Memory of Justice”) and the life of infamous Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie (“Hotel Terminus”), further enriched the documentary genre. Ophuls’ unique approach combined archival footage with extensive, sometimes exhaustive interviews, providing valuable insights on the intricate topics his films addressed.

“Hotel Terminus” won him an Oscar for best documentary in 1988.

Originally from Frankfurt am Main (formerly known as Oppenheimer), Ophuls grew up in Frankfurt and Berlin until 1933 when Hitler took control. He then relocated to France and eventually made his way to the U.S., passing through Spain and Portugal. Whilst his father was producing films like “Letter From an Unknown Woman,” Ophuls attended Hollywood High School, often feeling like a misfit. He acted as a German youth in Frank Capra’s war-time documentary, “Prelude to War,” and enlisted in the Army in 1945, serving in the entertainment division based in Japan.

Upon his return to the U.S., Ophuls enrolled at Occidental College, then moved on to UC Berkeley and the Sorbonne in Paris due to his multilingual abilities and with his father’s assistance. This led him to be recruited as an assistant by notable directors such as Julien Duvivier, John Huston, and Anatole Litvak. After collaborating with Huston on “Moulin Rouge” in 1952, he contributed to his father’s work (and even made a brief appearance) in the critically acclaimed film “Lola Montes,” often hailed as the pinnacle of the elder Ophuls’ career.

After honing my craft on German television, I found myself captivated by a documentary about Henri Matisse that caught the attention of Francois Truffaut. He generously entrusted me with a segment for his multi-part series “Love at Twenty.” Through our budding friendship, I managed to persuade Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jeanne Moreau to join me in my 1963 adventure comedy “Banana Peel,” which received widespread acclaim. However, my second fictional work, the 1965 film “Fire at Will,” starring Eddie Constantine, unfortunately failed to resonate with critics or viewers alike.

To secure employment, Ophuls got hired by the state-owned French television network ORTF, where he worked on the news magazine “Zoom!”. Following his three-hour 1967 documentary, “Munich or Peace in Our Time”, about the 1938 Munich agreement, he started planning a film focusing on the French Occupation. During this period, he also created a film that showed support for the 1968 Parisian student protests. After General de Gaulle’s forces returned to power in the French government, Ophuls was dismissed due to his radical views.

After his return to German TV, Ophuls collaborated with the Swiss to fund the completion of “The Sorrow and the Pity” by 1969. This extensive yet insightful 4.5-hour documentary exposed the myth that the French resisted their occupiers during the war by highlighting their complicity with the Nazis. Initially, it was aired on German television, but the French refused to show it in cinemas or on TV. However, after multiple private screenings, “The Sorrow and the Pity” eventually premiered in Paris to widespread critical appreciation and played for several months. It wasn’t until 1971 that it was distributed across France, and it didn’t appear on French television until a decade later.

In the United States, “Sorrow” was met with similar acclaim. Ophuls’ subsequent movie, “A Sense of Loss” (1972), focused on the prolonged conflict in Northern Ireland. It was hard to avoid drawing comparisons with the earlier film, and the subject matter proved to be far more intricate than any single film could capture.

The Movie ‘Memory of Justice’ (1976), inspired by the book ‘Nuremberg and Vietnam: An American Tragedy,’ lasted approximately 4½ hours. It drew connections between horrific acts committed in Nazi Germany, Vietnam, and Algeria. The film explored themes of selective memory and the German population’s wish to disregard their previous pro-Nazi views.

In 1988, Ophuls made a comeback to the silver screen with another WWII documentary titled “Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie.” This film focused on the infamous Nazi war criminal known as the Butcher of Lyon. Once more, his work resonated deeply, earning him an Oscar and the International Critics Prize at Cannes.

His 1991 docu “November Days” was a portrait of the weakening political leadership of East Germany.

Often, Ophuls delved into film topics, delivered talks at various universities, and held positions within the French Filmmakers Society. In 1991, he received a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, pledging to return to feature filmmaking. However, he unexpectedly produced “Veillees d’armes,” a film chronicling the history of war correspondents instead. This was his final directorial project until 2012 when he released “Un Voyageur” (2012), a personal reflection where he shared his memories and wrapped up his experiences. However, in the U.S., this film was oddly titled “Ain’t Misbehavin’.

He was married to Regine Ophuls, by whom he had three daughters.

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2025-05-26 20:16