Letter From An Unknown Woman Film Review: Cinephilia

Letter From An Unknown Woman is a critically well-regarded example of the 'woman's film' or tear-jerking melodrama, a genre in which Ophuls was somewhat of a specialist. Joan Fontaine (in probably her best but certainly her last outstanding role) plays Lisa, a young girl in turn-of-the-centry Vienna with a crush on a philandering concert pianist, Stefan Brand, played by Louis Jourdan in his standard dashingly good-looking mode She falls pregnant after a one-night stand, doesn't see him for 9 years and in the interim marries a paternalistically understanding military man. The principals meet again and tragedy, redemption and the audience's tears ensue. The film was adapted by Howard Koch from Stefan Zweig's novella and compared to the work of noted melodramatist Douglas Sirk, for instance, is a restrained, low key affair despite having all the ingredients of the weepie. Although the genre is considered as appealing to a female audience, the portrayal of Jourdan’s character is in fact central to the film for although we see him through Lisa’s eyes (the story is told in flash-back accompanied by her voice-over) he is the focus of attention and as the devastating ending demonstrates, ultimately, it is his awakening to his own folly that is the film’s core message. Whilst from a realist’s point-of-view the assertion that Brand would have completely forgotten Lisa after such a relatively short period of time requires considerable suspension of disbelief, for those willing to give themselves up to the spirit of the thing. this is rewarding enough. BH

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