This is one of those somewhat atmospheric romances that are based on just enough actual story and a fine enough depiction of the human mind that it just might interest the male viewer, in spite of the obviously feminine traits at work in this genre. Joan Fontaine, as good as ever in this role, symbolizes through her character the softer, more dependent aspect of the female entity. She's very sweet, cute, extremely discreet, almost ...'invisible' (*wink*wink*). Jourdain plays his role just about right as well, and it is very clearly established the relation between these two lead characters, and in their own right individually the side of the male and female avatars symbolized.All in all this is a film that holds up nicely for about the whole film; while it never really involves the viewer in a terribly emotional state, and there is a bit that is to be desired in the intensity as this film fairly flatly delivers the scenes from the original book. And if any part of the film stands for that criticism, it would be the very ending, something of a flat shortcoming, that leaves the viewer a little bit hungry for more, for something else; for a more expressive depiction of the ultimate moment of narrative.

A pianist about to flee from a duel receives a letter from a woman he cannot remember, who may hold the key to his downfall.What a very strange film. Although the title suggests the film is about a letter from an unknown woman, we spend most of the time following a woman and her love for a pianist. Is she connected to this letter? Is she the one dying in the hospital? And how is any of that related to the duel? Perhaps most strange is that although the film follows the original story very closely (from what I understand), it changes in one key instance: there is no duel in the original story, nor is there a character such as Johann. No duel? That is the big event lurking in the background of this entire story!

In my opinion this is a tragic love story suited for the time period it was created in. The story follows the main character Lisa Berndle as it looks by on her life and events involving the love of her life Stephen Brand. As a young girl in Vienna, Austria Lisa lives in an apartment complex as the leading male role Stephen Brand moves in. I liked how in the beginning Lisa is unaware of Stephen's appearance and age as she is mesmerized by his piano playing outside his window. This adds a deeper level of connection between Lisa and Stephen instead of the traditional love at first sight theme for most romances in this time period. Of course, not much later in the film Lisa meets Stephen face to face and is taken back by his debonair style. After this meeting Lisa is almost obsessive in her quest to get closer to Stephen. She goes as far as sneaking into his apartment while he is out, and spying on him as he comes home, with a new woman every night. Somehow Lisa sees past his womanizing deeds, because she has truly fallen in love with him. This part is very bothersome, because she is so blinded by his musical talent, charming personality, and handsome appearance that she can't see he will never feel the same way about her. As the story progresses, Lisa's family moves away forcing her to part with Stephan. Now Lisa has the chance to move on and find someone new that could reciprocate feeling on love and respect. However, when a Lieutenant of the military proposes to her she turns him down because she can't get rid of her feelings for Stephan. In fact, she decides that it's best if she part from her family and move back to Vienna to maybe by chance win Stephan's heart. For a brief moment Lisa had the chance to live a life with a man who actually care for her, but instead her obsessive childhood crush got in the way of her opportunity to have a somewhat happy ending. This notion of people falling for the wrong person happens in present day as it did back then. Even when a person sees a person's misdeeds they view the situation with rose colored glasses, and allow their perception of reality to be warped. These situations are typically followed by a series of events that don't bode well for those who chose not to accept the truth. As we see with Lisa she comes back to Vienna, and for a lack of better word stalks him until he notices her. They go on a date and Stephen takes her through the usual routine, like he does with all his groupies. This only further deepens Lisa's view of Stephen, as a charming gentleman, who has finally returned her feelings of love. Unfortunately, this is not the case Stephan appears to be after one thing only, and that is sex. After the date he takes her home for the night, and the scene is brilliantly shot from the same angle, where Lisa saw many of other ladies come before her. It's made apparent that they had relations that night, and then shortly after he must leave to play concerts in other cities. In present day terms this is a "hit it and quit it" type move Stephan performs to continue his conquest of woman. Tragically, Lisa gets pregnant with Stephen's child, but never sees him again, and remarries. She was most likely forced to, because at that time a single mother didn't have the best chance of supporting herself. She ends up seeing Stephan later, where he claims to recognize her, but does not know her name. She later goes to meet up with Stephan to tell him about their son, but once he starts his same womanizing routine she finally notices that everything has been a lie. It was interesting to see Lisa finally come to this realization, but only after all the woman she saw him with and getting pregnant. The whole situation doesn't seem realistic, but unfortunately even today it's sad how many people fall victim to these same circumstances.

While Letter from an Unknown Woman by Max Ophüls might have been a revolutionary movie in 1948 now it is a rather generic love story. The movie takes place in Vienna Austro-Hungarian Empire and is actually a story within a story starting with a man, whom is a pianist named Stefan Brand, being sidetracked from fleeing a dual as he reads a letter by a woman who does not give her name. In her letter the woman details how she fell in love with him and essentially stalked him. She then moves on to how he finally noticed her and got her pregnant. Then having forgotten about her she is forced to marry an officer in the Austro-Hungarian army, who does so even knowing the full truth. Then the pianist reappears and the woman is forced to choose between the good man who took her in and the man she loves. She chooses the pianist and while on a train both she and her son are infected with typhus and later die. Before this she meet with Stefan but he has already forgotten who she is and she runs off in despair. She wrote him the letter to inform him of the death of his son and of his failure to live up to himself. As he finishes the letter Stefan realizes the mistakes he makes and goes to fight his dual, which is with the woman's husband. Although the plot is relatively contrite the movie does have some funny moments and worthwhile scenes. In contrast to the story the technical aspects of the film are excellent even compared to modern films. In particular Ophüls make excellent use of light and dark and inventive camera angles. This must have been particularly difficult at the time with the equipment available and is laudatory. In total the film is worth watching but it is no longer as amazing or shocking as it once was.