Customer Reviews

Letter from an Unknown Woman

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LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN remains one of those cinematic masterpieces that has never gotten its rightful due. In Europe, it has been listed, in various cinema circles, as one of the 10 Best of Films. But, here, it has been unjustly ignored, perhaps due to its initial lukewarm public and even critical response. The superb Max Ophuls has directed a mood piece of substance, one that captures its milieu and time period with perfection. Joan Fontaine, who, at her best, was one of the best of American film actresses, here is remarkable, always capturing the changing character tones of a young woman growing into a lovesick woman. Louis Jourdan is impeccable as well.... the rogue, the handsome and dashing man who favors his romantic interludes over his composing acuumen. Everything is right in this film, and its black-and-white photography is expertly reproduced in the VHS version. Music and supporting players (including Mady Christians) add to the piece's effectiveness. It is a treasure of a film, a romantic work that eschews the pitfalls that make some moviegoers avoid love stories. Excellence is paramount.

This is, without question,one of the best films of the 1940's. Though not as well-known among the general public today as some other romantic movies of that time, which was the heyday of what were called 'women's pictures', this intensely romantic, highly moving story will not to fail to touch even the most cynical viewer. Told in the form of narration by means of a letter written to a composer by his most ardent fan of a love he can't even remember, there is not one sappy moment in the entire film. There is a lushness of tone, attention to detail, and carefully modulated depth of feeling that doesen't manipulate the emotions, but combines to create a true sense of the pain being felt by a lovely, forgotten woman. Director Max Ophuls is working at the height of his powers and this is certainly on the scale of his European masterpiece, "The Earrings of Madame de", though completely different in tone. Very sad, highly recommended, and not to be missed by anyone who appreciates quality cinema.

Not the usual tearjeaker of the fourties (see how far from, say, Mildred Pierce, this is). Not the usual women's picture. A deep study of "amour fou" in a very stylish, elegant high melodrama wisely directed by Max Ophuls. That Screen MASTER (with capitals) knew how to confer the film a tasteful sense of the turn-of-century romantic european atmosphere. But its assets are not only limited to screenplay and art direction. Two rather histrionically limited players (Fontaine and Jourdan, who else could be?) are fully potentiated to give their best of their usual screen image. All the traits of the Fontaine's charachter (shyness, demureness) are fully used in this hopeless (as all crazy loves) story of a woman who has her meaning of life in her love for a pianist who ignores her. She is poignant and strangely believable in her longlife obsession. The charms of Jourdan have never been better used than in that film (though he repeated it with much less success in Mme. Bovary). The third player -Vienna-, though just reproduced in stage, acquires a full dimension and integrates completely well into the movie. We can FEEL the city as we have never felt before. A sensible and truly romantic movie for all time.

Stefan Zweig wrote tales of obsessions (Amok, Royal Game), and this is one of his creations. The problem with obsessions as a theme of literature (an by extension, of movies) is that there is very little room for character development...in fact there is no room for development of any kind. The obsessed are to perish, consumed by their narrow, intense, cravings; thus obsessions lend themselves more to short stories than to novels, and indeed "A letter from an unknown woman" is based on a short story.

I had read the story as a kid, thinking I was as expert on matters of love which, of course, I was not. A few years after reading the story (and after experiencing love) I saw the film "A Letter..." and I was shocked. For one, I understood the story better, and was saddened by it; but in addition I gazed upon Joan Fontaine and became convinced that she was the most beautiful object in the entire Universe. I promptly fell in love with her and started hating Louis Jourdan, the sociopath who could have made her happy and did not. I saw the movie over and over, just to feast my eyes on Joan, and in the hope of a miraculously happy ending (that never took place).

Now, in what seems like a couple of hundred years, I revisited "A Letter..." and it still holds up. It is not as dramatic as when I was full of youth and hope, but the movie still stirs this old codger; and it does so strongly enough to allow me to recommend this dramatic tale, this fine classical film, to all who have not yet seen it.

I must say that there have been few movies (dramas) which have emotioned me so much as this work of art by master director Max Ophüls (credited as Opuls here)...only films like "Portrait of Jennie" or "Dodsworth"...this was another one-of-a-kind experience for me.

I had read so much about it, that I had to SEE it...so I bought this VHS here, at Amazon.com marketplace sellers, where I've always made great transactions & had very good overall experiences, especially when it comes to obtain, these "out of stock/print", kind of elusive gems.

Joan Fontaine gives what one can easily be, the most wondrous, poetic, performance, she ever gave, including "Rebecca" and "Suspicion"...Here she simply is at her very best, close to perfection...just as Jennifer Jones, gave (IMHO) THE performance of her career in the aforementioned "Portrait of Jennie". She convicingly grows from an "innocent" adolescent who falls deeply in love with an artist (Louis Jourdan), looking him, following him, listening to him, "in hiding", "in the shadows", quietly, living her life only "for/because of him"... although he's unaware of that. This obsession of hers with this man, reaches to a point where nothing makes sense to her without him. It's platonic love & adoration, taken to extreme limits, almost to the boundaries of insanity, yet so disarmingly naive and true!

Louis Jourdan is equally effective, as the debonair, devil-make-care, playboy, man of the world, pianist, who realizes too late, what has been going on.

Wonderful art direction, sets, mood, atmosphere, cinematography, narration...excellent "raccontos/flashbacks"...great camera work, gowns, period detail...everything is so right...especially the truth in Lisa's (Fontaine) very deep love for this man, who becomes the only reason of her life, of her "breathing", of her "existence".

Max Ophüls really made a work of art, out of this movie...which by the way, I read somewhere, had a similar plot than the 1933 "Only Yesterday", which marked the debut in the american cinema, of that gorgeous actress, Margaret Sullavan; although Ophüls' film, is by far superior...'cos it "trascends" the "Tearjerker" status; it has an ethereal quality all of his own.

Not since watching "Shadowlands" in March of this year, I had felt & been so moved by a film. Really, ROMANTIC, unrequited love, at his best. And I tell you, I'm not an "easy" person...in other words, I do not "emote" easily, and at the film's conclussion, I have no shame in admitting that I cried like a baby. It reached my heart & soul.

This film ought to be restored and released on dvd format, since it is one of the landmark films of all time. Although I must say the Republic VHS Edition, is decent indeed.

This bittersweet turn-of-the-century romance about a young girl who falls in love with a narissistic, womanizing, concert pianist may appear to a cynical viewer as a somewhat obsessive love story of unrequited love. Lisa (Fontaine), the "Unknown Woman," turns a adolescent crush into a lifelong love for someone (Jourdan) who scarcely knows she is alive. Nonetheless, the story is a wonderful tale of hopeful and innocent love which is able to last a lifetime, even if unrecognized and unappreciated until the very end. Max Ophuls's wonderful directing abilities completely pulls one into the movie, the time, the setting, and the characters, making one feel genuinely sorry for not only Lisa, whose love is ultimately in vain, but also for Stefan, who realizes too late the love he has been searching for all his life in this tragic love story. It is truly a classic in its elegance and timeless beauty.

"Letter From an Unknown Woman" is a touching, emotionally-involving movie about a
woman's life-long obsession with a handsome, charming musician who is truly not worth all of her
love and devotion. This is the kind of movie you watch when you want to lose yourself in
a whole other world--it's that engrossing. Joan Fontaine and Luis Jourdan are excellent in
their roles, and Fontaine is especially convincing as a woman hopelessly in love with
Jourdan (or the perfect man she imagines him to be). I agree with the previous reviewer
that the scene where she realizes for a second time that he doesn't recognize her is just
agonizing to watch. At 87 minutes, it doesn't drag on like many classic movies do.
Nothing is superfluous--every scene and line of dialogue is essential. I'll also mention that
besides the great acting and storyline, the direction and cinematography are also
exceptional. This is an unforgettable movie that is so overwhelming that it will literally leave you speechless. It's one of my favorite movies and I can't recommend it enough.

"Letter from an Unknown Woman" was the fourth, last and best of Ophuls' american features. It is also the most european in flavor, and looks forward to his great post-war french films. Liza, the unknown, is as nameless as "Madame de...", and even King Ludwig sometimes forgets Lola's name. That is the tragedy at the heart of all these stories: they are forgotten BECAUSE they are women. It's a mistake to think the director is entertaining thoughts of romance here. Instead, he shows how the romantic ideals of the women are totally out of sync with the desires of men. "Details make art," was Ophuls' credo, and the letterhead on the stationary at the end of the film shows how deep irony can be lightly administered. Be sure to look up a hagiography of Saint Catherine.bob

Smart of Joan Fontaine to produce this super-classy sudser as a vehicle for herself; she's never looked better. Max Ophuls brings his bittersweet Viennese romanticism to Hollywood, and the result is magical. Louis Jourdan's also ideally cast as the caddish pianist who causes Lisa to suffer, and suffer, and suffer, and suffer.... Mady Christians, star of Broadway's I REMEMBER MAMA and a tragic victim of the McCarthy era blacklist, shines briefly as Lisa's mother. On a par with LA RONDE and THE EARRINGS OF MADAME DE... as one of the screen's greatest adult examinations of love.

I can't quite decide why I love this movie so much. It may be that Lisa still loves Stefan till the end. or the whay that it doesn't focus and moralise about her illigitimate child. Or the way that Lisa tries to make herself to be the perfect person for her dream man who we the viewer knows is no more then a childish fantasy and illusion. the way that the story is told by her letter to him I often find detracts from a story but in this case it adds to the story hugely.