‎Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948) directed by Max Ophüls • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

Letter from an Unknown Woman

1948 Directed by Max Ophüls

A pianist about to flee from a duel receives a letter from a woman he cannot remember. As she tells the story of her lifelong love for him, he is forced to reinterpret his own past.

Joan Fontaine Louis Jourdan Mady Christians Marcel Journet Art Smith Carol Yorke Howard Freeman John Good Leo B. Pessin Erskine Sanford Otto Waldis Sonja Bryden Betty Blythe

87 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Anna Imhof ★★★★★ 8

I can stop watching movies now. I've found the one I've been looking for.
Review by Dragonknight ★★★★½ 5

Film #3 of Gustav's Recommendations

” I know now that nothing happens by chance. Every moment is measured; every step is counted.”

With a sad and heartbreaking story which addressees issues like destiny, love, dignity, pride and regret, Max Ophuls’ unappreciated little masterpiece, Letter From An Unknown Woman, is more like a story written by Leo Tolstoy, like the works of the Russian writer it takes place in dimly lit noble houses and chooses its characters from the upper-class society, it takes lonely characters and follows them across years as they go from happiness into misery and despair. What Ophuls does is that he turns his camera away from all the glamour of houses, clothes and concerts and instead focuses…
Review by Redfern ★★★★½

88/100

It's no surprise that these 'endless parades of arrivals and departures' that make Letter from an Unknown Woman take as much away from these characters as they give. It's these actions and the musicality of the performers' movements matched by the waltz the camera is frequently engaged in that creates Ophüls' tragic world wherein our central woman Lisa Berndle devotes her life to a man she seems destined not to be with. It's always a window or a door blocking Lisa from her love - or everything that, to her, represents her love - pertubed by her inability to reach him even through something most brittle. And finally, upon meeting, their attempt to capture missed opportunities and memories can…
Review by Peter Labuza ★★★★

The key moment of this film is the second goodbye at the train, which suddenly becomes a moment of horror for Lisa. This horror should not occur, but the non-diegesis of Daniele Amfitheatrof's score combined with the sudden look of shock registered by Fontaine's face tell us that this moment is tragedy. What has happened exactly? Her son has exclaimed as the train rushes out the station that he expects to see her in two weeks. This is of course what happened with her one time love years ago, who she then abandoned in hoping never to force any pressures on her. But as it turns out, at least in her perception of the events, her decision to leave him…
Review by Owen ★★★★½ 3

Just absolutely beautiful.

The storyline almost doesn't matter, although it is beautifully played by Fontaine who convinces in so many disparate ways as the story goes on; it has a good script and Jourdan pretty much makes you belief that he could have that impact on Fontaine.

But as great as that stuff is it's not essential.

Ophuls and candlelight, wow.

Ophuls and incredibly constructed sets that allow him to follow action down stairs, through windows, out onto strasse.

By action I mean Fontaine.

Incredibly beautiful, incredibly romantic, shot with that strange mixture of ostentatious direction and stuff so breathtaking that it makes you forget just how showy he's being.
Review by Rosalind 4

Saw this in the Royal Pavillion's music room with my love, on a cold November evening with a fire burning, which amped up the already wonderful romance of the film. Joan Fontaine is amazing and however melodramatic I just fell for everything. Such a gorgeous film.

Recent reviews

Review by NoviceLiar ★★★★★

Fuck, this really hit the feels. Letters From An Unknown Woman is about how those moments we cherish (or haunt us) for years could mean little to nothing for someone else. What a beautiful and heartbreaking film. 5/5
Review by Quinn

Film #9 of YouTube August

A very sad, very stirring drama set in late 19th century / early 20th century Austria (an aesthetic I'm quite partial to). Joan Fontaine's passionate, enduring love for Louis Jourdan is understandable - who wouldn't want to dine on sausages and wine in a private room at a restaurant with him?

Direction by Max Ophüls, cinematography by Franz Planer, music by Daniele Amfitheatrof: a perfect mélange of Hollywood sheen and European elegance.
Review by Dean Klein ★★★★½

i guess i am a fool..
(•_•)
( •_•)>⌐■-■
for Ophüls!
(⌐■_■)

*sorry
Review by J ★★★★

this takes the "loving someone from a distance" to another level. probably one of the most romantic films to ever build-up gracefully from far-flung, hopeless admiration and develops it beautifully into something temporal, limited and yet a cherished, soul-changing albeit unrequited love-on-a-weekend affair. after that it surprises you and unfolds in a way you'd think it cannot go but it does and it's crushing and you're left with nothing but its traces of a love that only one has felt most deeply and a life jaggedly, superficially and regretfully lived.
Review by Andrew R. ★★★★★

Perceptive with perspective, obsessive, superb framing. Secretly pisses on nostalgia in a really clever way.
Review by 'Becca'lise

Sight & Sound challenge 222/250
Review by Craig Duffy ★★★½

Very nice camera movement for the period used to tell an interesting and mildly scandalous story. Cool but rushed ending.
Review by Diogo Serafim ★★★★

tersely loving an illusion is having time and space steadily encumbering your hopes, until there is actually nothing left.
Review by Cameron Macgowan ★★★★½

Ophüls was such a master of visual storytelling that you don't even need to hear a single word in this film to be moved by it.