Max Ophüls
Film director · 2 films (1948–1952)
Max Ophüls is a director whose work here spans Letter From An Unknown Woman (1948) to Le Plaisir (1952), across drama and romance. The work runs nocturnal — 62% of frames across the 2 films indexed here, against 43% library-wide. All 130 frames from 2 films are indexed here, searchable by lighting, lens, shot size, colour and mood.
Maximillian Oppenheimer — known as Max Ophüls — was an influential German film director who worked in Germany (1931–33), France (1933–40), the United States (1947–50), and France again (1950–57). He is best known for his smooth camera movements and complex tracking shots.
Born 6 May 1902 · Saarbrücken, Saarland, Germany · died 26 March 1957
Directing style
Max Ophüls crafts a striking black-and-white visual landscape dominated by nocturnal interiors and moody night exteriors, where scenes are primarily illuminated by practical fixtures, streetlamps, and candlelight. He favors eye-level medium shots that maintain a balanced mix of shallow and deep focus, rendering his dramatic romances with a prevailing sense of tension, loneliness, and ominous undertones. The camera remains anchored at eye level, capturing characters in intimate mid-scale compositions framed against a rich scale of grays, deep blacks, and clean whites.
Films directed by Max Ophüls
About Max Ophüls
When was Max Ophüls born?
Max Ophüls was born on 6 May 1902 in Saarbrücken, Saarland, Germany and died on 26 March 1957.
What films has Max Ophüls directed?
FrameThrower holds stills from 2 of them: Letter From An Unknown Woman (1948) and Le Plaisir (1952).
Search every frame of Max Ophüls’s films
All 130 indexed frames from 2 films directed by Max Ophüls — searchable by lighting, lens, shot size, mood or plain language.