The Moves #3: ‘The Reckless Moment’ (Max Ophüls, 1949)

In Max Ophüls’ 'The Reckless Moment', time marks the compass of a thriller, while space gives architecture to a melodrama. But time and space, thriller and melodrama, do not advance independently, or in parallel: rather, it is the perfect imbrication of both these dimensions and genres that constitutes the film’s nucleus. In this text, I analyse in depth one sequence happening 30 minutes into the film.