The Novel of Werther (Max Ophüls, 1938)

Hard to evaluate, largely because of the deterioration of the copy I had to watch, Werther is nevertheless instructive. While it's certainly easy to see the germs of Ophüls' later greatness in this film, it hardly stands alongside the director's most notable works. Those like myself who were bothered by the breakneck pace and awkward narrative shorthand of Armando Iannucci's recent take on David Copperfield are advised to stay away, or at least to go in knowing that Werther is more of a curio than anything else.

Ophüls reasonably assumed a contemporary European viewer who had read Goethe's novel at some point in their lives. That's one possible explanation for the strange temporal compression that characterizes this film. It hits all the necessary plot points. Werther )Pierre Richard-Willm), a newly assigned legal magistrate, comes to town to assume the duties of the temporarily indisposed Albert (Jean Galland). The two men eventually become friends, but in Albert's absence, Werther falls in love with young Charlotte (Annie Vernay), who unbeknownst to Werther is already betrothed to Albert. Ophüls dispatches all of this information with efficiency and a bit of unexpected humor.

But the relationships and crises that are at the heart of Goethe's Sturm und Drang never really develop in an organic way. We are essentially watching an uninspired but faithful photoplay of Werther, and the emotional dissolution of the protagonist, which should be affecting if not outright heartrending, seems to follow from the dictates of story itself, and not from any real compulsion of the figures involved. On the other hand, Ophüls' unique brand of mise en scene is already evident, with a striking use of light and shadow, along with some highly unconventional staging and framing. (See above: a running tap in the foreground becomes a waterfall, to which Werther is oblivious.) So Werther, while not particularly interesting on its own, does provide historians with a pertinent point along Ophüls' eventual trajectory.