Oscar-winning filmmaker Marcel Ophuls, director of ‘The Sorrow and the Pity,’ dead aged 97

By RACHEL BOWMAN FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Published: 19:26 BST, 26 May 2025 | Updated: 19:43 BST, 26 May 2025

Marcel Ophuls, best known for his award-winning film ‘The Sorrow and The Pity,’ has died at age 97.

The German-born filmmaker, who was the son of legendary filmmaker Max Ophuls, died Saturday at his home in southwest France of natural causes, his grandson Andreas-Benjamin Seyfert told The Hollywood Reporter.

‘The Sorrow and The Pity’ sent shockwaves around the world for shattering the myth that most of France had resisted the Nazis during World War II.

The film, which was nominated for the 1972 Oscar for Best Documentary, laid bare the moral ambiguities of life under occupation.

Stretching over four and a half hours, the documentary turned its lens on Clermont-Ferrand, a provincial town at the heart of France. 

Through interviews, the film punctured the carefully constructed myth curated by Charles de Gaulle that the French had resisted Nazi occupation as one people, united in dignity and defiance.

The film was banned in France until 1981 and French broadcast executives said it ‘destroyed the myths the French still need.’

Born in Frankfurt on November 1, 1927,  Ophuls was the son of legendary German-Jewish filmmaker Max Ophuls, director of ‘La Ronde,’ ‘Letter from an Unknown Woman’, and ‘Lola Montès.’ 

Marcel Ophuls, best known for his award-winning film ‘The Sorrow and The Pity,’ has died at age 97

‘The Sorrow and The Pity’ sent shockwaves around the world for shattering the myth that most of France had resisted the Nazis during World War II

When Hitler came to power in 1933, the family fled Germany for France. In 1940, as Nazi troops approached Paris, they fled again – across the Pyrenees into Spain, and on to the United States.

Marcel became an American citizen and later served as a U.S. Army GI in occupied Japan.

In ‘Hôtel Terminus’ (1988), he spent five years tracking the life of Klaus Barbie, the so-called ‘Butcher of Lyon,’ exposing not just his Nazi crimes but the role Western governments played in protecting him after the war. 

The film won him his Academy Award for Best Documentary but, overwhelmed by its darkness, French media reported that he attempted suicide during production. 

He is survived by his wife, Régine, their three daughters, and three grandchildren. 

This is a developing story… 

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Oscar-winning filmmaker Marcel Ophuls, director of ‘The Sorrow and the Pity,’ dead aged 97

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