Maximillian Oppenheimer (6 May 1902 – 26 March 1957) — known as Max Ophüls — was an influential German film director who worked in Germany (1931–33), France (1933–40), the United States (1947–50), and France again (1950–57). He is best known for his smooth camera movements and complex tracking shots. Many of his films are narrated from the point of view of the female protagonist. In addition to the American romantic melodrama Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948), the French productions La Ronde (1950), Le Plaisir (1