Geofbob Review of Letter from an Unknown Woman

Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)

A European masterpiece, made in the USA

[18 August 2001]

In terms of its construction - eg scenario and acting; recreation of 1900s Vienna; camera angles, movement, and lighting; editing etc - Max Ophuls' 1948 b&w film is rightly regarded as a masterpiece; but I think the term "American Masterpiece" is questionable. The movie was almost certainly not as Ophuls would ideally have wished, due to the notorious Hays Code. His next two Hollywood movies were films noirs, and he moved back to more congenial Europe for the cynical La Ronde, which he almost certainly could not have made in the US. We're also entitled to raise an eyebrow at the movie's usual categorisation as a "tear jerker" and "woman's picture". No doubt, when it was released, and even today, many women (and some men) would unquestioningly identify with Lisa Berndl (Joan Fontaine), who maintains a deep love, from girlhood through to early middle age, for the handsome pianist Stefan Brand (Louis Jourdan), who increasingly shows himself to be a shallow, selfish philanderer; like her, they would fantasise about how they could change his ways, and help him return to the concert stage; and they would weep at the tragic end to Lisa's and their dreams. But one of the brilliant aspects of this film lies in the way Ophuls maintains enough distance from his characters and situations to allow us, if we wish, to view the movie with a more sardonic eye; to see Lisa - whether due to mental or moral weakness - as failing to grow up; to have no illusions about Stefan's failings as a man or a pianist; and to see his impending death in the duel as a joke played on him by Lisa from her grave - because had her letter not been so long he would have had time to flee Vienna as he originally intended!