Der Reigen

Second adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's play "Reigen", first filmed by director Max Ophüls in 1950 as "La Ronde", gets the Roger Vadim treatment, which is to say it is most certainly a sumptuous display but one with nothing happening beyond the pretty window dressing. Time and place have been changed from the original version--we are now in 1913 Paris instead of 1900 Vienna--but the story is the same: a prostitute offers herself to soldier who resembles the only man she ever loved; the soldier goes on to seduce a housemaid, who in turn makes love with the son of her employer. Vadim and scenarist Jean Anouilh have eliminated the Raconteur (a fatal mistake), and so we are set adrift amidst well-upholstered sets and superbly dressed and coiffed ladies, lost among the vapid players, dull romantic talk and teasing glimpses of flesh. Jane Fonda lets her bare back steal her bed scenes. The dazzling opening credits sequence and Michel Magne's lovely background score are assets, as is Henri Decaë's rich color cinematography. *1/2 from ****