Marcel Ophuls, the legendary director best known for his groundbreaking documentary The Sorrow and the Pity, has died at the age of 97.
His death was confirmed to The New York Times by his grandson, Andreas-Benjamin Seyfert, who did not provide details regarding the circumstances of Ophuls’ passing on Saturday, according to media reports.
Ophuls, the son of renowned German and Hollywood director Max Ophuls, often remarked that he felt like a prisoner of his success in documentary filmmaking, when what he truly longed to create were lighthearted musicals and romances.
Despite those ambitions, The Sorrow and the Pity, his exhaustive examination of French collaboration with Nazi occupiers during World War II, became a landmark in documentary history and elevated the genre in the public eye.
His 1988 film Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie earned him the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
In 1991, he released November Days, a reflective portrait of the declining political leadership in East Germany.
Ophuls was also active in the academic and film communities. He frequently wrote about cinema, lectured at universities, and served on the board of the French Filmmakers Society.
After receiving a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 1991, he declared his intention to return to feature filmmaking. However, instead he directed Veillées d’armes (also known as The Troubles We’ve Seen), a documentary exploring the history of wartime journalism.
That remained his final directorial work until 2012’s Un Voyageur, a cinematic self-portrait reflecting on his life and career. The film was released in the U.S. under the incongruous title Ain’t Misbehavin’.
He is survived by his wife, Régine Ophuls, and their three daughters.
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