La Ronde (1964 film)
| Circle of Love | |
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original film poster
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| Directed by | Roger Vadim |
| Produced by |
Raymond Hakim Robert Hakim |
| Written by | Jean Anouilh |
| Based on |
Reigen by Arthur Schnitzler |
| Starring |
Jane Fonda Anna Karina Jean-Claude Brialy Maurice Ronet |
| Music by | Michel Magne |
| Cinematography | Henri Decaë |
| Distributed by |
Continental Distributing Inc. Walter Reader-Sterling Inc (US) |
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Release date
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Running time
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110 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Box office | 1,078,415 admissions (France) |
Circle of Love (Original French title: La ronde) is a 1964 film directed by Roger Vadim and based on Arthur Schnitzler's 1897 play Reigen. The film generated minor controversy due to Jane Fonda's involvement, as she was one of the first major American actresses to do a nude scene in a foreign film.
In 1913, a sentimental Parisian prostitute offers herself freely to a handsome soldier because he resembles her true love.
Seeking to take advantage of all opportunities for lovemaking, the soldier seduces a lonely housemaid and then goes off to make other conquests.
Returning home, the despondent maid allows her employer's son to make love to her. Encouraged by the experience, the young gentleman consummates his desire for a married woman.
Refreshed by the love session, the married woman makes bold overtures to her stuffy husband. Later, he takes a midinette for his mistress, but the ambitious young woman forsakes him for an author she hopes will write a play for her.
Instead, he pursues an established actress with whom he had an affair years before. He has little success, however, for the actress finds satisfaction only with young men, and she has a brief affair with the Count, a young officer.
Following their encounter, the Count embarks on a night of wild revelry. Morning finds him in the flat of the sentimental prostitute, who this time collects a fee for her services. The cycle of love is now complete.
Vadim had just enjoyed a big box office hit with Les Liaisons Dangereuses and this was another adaptation of a classic erotic text. As he later said:
When I make a picture about relations between people, something erotic comes through; I can't help it! But sex has been an inspiration, the greatest inspiration, since art exists. I don't mean pornography. But when I do something I like to go to the end with what I express. It is very difficult in France to talk about anything but sex! Politics, the army, the police, Catholicism - in that order. There is the influence of priests in censorship; no rule forbids you to discuss the church but they will stop you somehow.
During filming Jane Fonda began a romantic relationship with Vadim that went for several years.
Catherine Spaak later claimed that Vadim was focused on Fonda during the making of the film so "everyone suffered".
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Wikipedia