The Story of Three Loves

The New York Times walked into this by mistake and felt imposed upon by an uptown entertainment good in its way. Variety noted the buildup toward the end, but thought the middle “lacked interest”.

Reinhardt’s technique is akin to Bauhaus teaching, line and color are the basis, plastic form is expressive.

Minnelli is the other kind of cinema magician, distinct from rabbits and hats (cf. Robert N. Bradbury and Monroe Stahr). Something out of nothing is not in his line, ask him for “Mademoiselle” in Rome on the M-G-M lot, he gives you ruins and stars.

They meet, Reinhardt and Minnelli, at the start of “Equilibrium” where Paris has to be invented. The figures of dancers in “The Jealous Lover” become the concentration-camp chess set of the third part, just as the pig that does nothing but eat becomes Tommy’s piggy bank, the architectonics are solid.

A brutal, bitter work with a happy ending which the press on both coasts couldn’t follow.