Famed documentarian Marcel Ophuls has died at age 97. One of many main filmmakers to seize the political atrocities of the twentieth century, Ophuls famously directed “The Sorrow And The Pity” and the Oscar-winning “Hôtel Terminus: The Life and Occasions of Klaus Barbie,” each depicting the rise of the Nazi regime.
Ophuls “died peacefully” on Saturday, Might 24, as his grandson Andreas-Benjamin Seyfert confirmed to The Guardian on Monday, Might 26. Ophuls was born to German filmmakers, director Max Ophuls, and his spouse, actress Hildegard Wall. At age 11, the Ophuls household fled France after Germany was invaded by the Nazis; they later settled in Hollywood. Ophuls served within the U.S. military theatrical unit in Japan for WWII in 1946.
Ophuls later returned to France and labored as an assistant to his father and different filmmakers comparable to Julien Duvivier and Anatole Litvak. He additionally famously was an AD on John Huston’s “Moulin Rouge” and directed a part of the 1962 movie “Love at Twenty” due to François Truffaut, as The Guardian acknowledged. Ophuls additionally helmed 1964 detective movie “Banana Peel” starring Jeanne Moreau and Jean-Paul Belmondo.
It was in 1969, although, that Ophuls made his seminal work, documentary “The Sorrow And The Pity.” The movie was initially supposed to air on tv and was commissioned by a French government-run community. Ophuls was tasked with directing a documentary concerning the historical past of France beneath Nazi occupation; nevertheless, the four-and-a-half-hour “The Sorrow And The Pity” as an alternative depicted the French Vichy regime collaborating with the Nazis. The movie was banned from airing, however went on to be launched in theaters.
Ophuls continued to direct extra documentaries about political conflicts and genocides, together with “Hôtel Terminus: The Life and Occasions of Klaus Barbie” concerning the titular Nazi battle legal. Ophuls gained the Academy Award for Finest Documentary Function for the 1988 movie. Further documentaries embody “A Sense of Loss” concerning the Troubles in Northern Eire, “The Reminiscence of Justice,” the Sarajevo-set “The Troubles We’ve Seen,” and “November Days” that had interviews with East Germans concerning the fall of communism and reunification.
In accordance with The Guardian, Ophuls was engaged on a documentary about Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories on the time of his dying. The movie had a working title of “Disagreeable Truths.” Ophuls spent his remaining years dwelling in southern France.