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.
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So marvelously complex, proposing a link between spectacle and romantic delusions. It's the only of Ophuls' American films to capture the dialecticalisms of his 1950's work, yet like those prior, remain true to its narrative constructs. Lisa doesn't just live in her fantasy world, she believes it to exist in the world - her first set of outings with Stefan: candle-lit dinners, horse-drawn carriage rides, Viennese waltzes. We see this all through memory, but its Ophuls' genius to have them resemble something out of a elaborate costume drama. This dialectialism is clear once we get to the fake train ride, at the fair. But Stefan is just as much a lost soul - at least in this memory, during their…
This drama from German-born filmmaker Max Ophüls succeeds in achieving being overtly sentimental without succumbing to excessive melodrama. It's adapted from the 1922 short novel by Austrian novelist Stefan Zweig by Howard Koch, who wrote the screenplay for Mission to Moscow; which was subsequently criticised by the House Un-American Activities Committee, which together with his leftist's views, concluded with him being blacklisted by Hollywood in 1951.
Lisa Berndle, portrayed by Joan Fontaine, is a complicated and fascinating leading character and she flows through the beautiful and luxurious sets which are crowded observably with European cinematic influences; the lighting additionally establishes a great use of shadow and it utilises it's musical score significantly to progress the mood of a scene. Letter from an Unknown Woman compounds both romance and pain in endearing ways and is a remarkable movie.
“Letter from an Unknown Woman” is an operatic opus to love that resounds through all the ages and souls of the amorous.
Joan Fontaine stars in the second American feature by German director Max Ophüls. The film was devised as vehicle for Fontaine by her husband, who had stood up an entire studio just to churn out movies to feature his wife.
This offscreen context adds some reasoning to the fact that Fontaine must play her “Woman” progressing between the ages of 13 to 30. While not for a second is it possible to believe the graceful 31-year-old Fontaine as a fumbling teenager, the illusion is hardly necessary in Ophüls’ transcendent film.
In depicting the story of an unrequited love…
I feel like his valet could’ve saved her a lot of time and trouble if he’d just slipped her a note that said “sweetie, he’s really dumb ❤️ I know he’s pretty but he doesn’t have a lot going on upstairs ❤️ you’re gonna have to spell it out for him”
This is a dark and cynical take on unrequited love and obsession. Lisa tells her version of events yet the camera seems to present a slightly different reality which calls her narrative in to question.
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.
tersely loving an illusion is having time and space steadily encumbering your hopes, until there is actually nothing left.
Joan Fontaine and Louis Jordan star in this romantic drama about famed concert pianist Stefan, who is sent a letter by Lisa, a woman he doesn’t know who relates her lifelong unrequited love for him.
I liked the film, and found it very watchable, thanks to great leading performances and a lot of style. The idea that Lisa has loved Stefan from afar through the years is a great premise, the earlier scenes of her wistfully listening to him playing are really powerful.
However, once the two eventually meet I think the film loses steam, and it starts to become a bit far-fetched when he repeatedly fails to recognise her. The characters felt a bit one-note, and felt like they…
