Letter from an unknown woman is a 1948 american blackandwhite drama romance film released by universalinternational and directed by max ophuls. Perhaps the finest american film from the famed european director max ophuls, the film stars joan fontaine as a young woman who falls in love with a concert pianist. Since the film is easily subsumed into the category of womens films and since the themes of the film, such as desire, personal renunciation, and death, all fall well within the areas traditionally encompassed by the hollywood. One tends to reject or remain ignorant of the least desirable aspects of ones personality. It started that way promisingly, but wandered off into being neither darkly funny nor thoughtfully serious. May 01, 2011 letter from an unknown woman 1948 official trailer joan fontaine, louis jourdan movie hd duration. Letter from an unknown woman all the tropes wiki fandom. On the subject of stefans conversion by the end of the film and its representation of a mans journey into symbolic order, and thus into history, see tania modleski, time and desire in the woman s film, letter from an unknown woman, ed. This site is like a library, use search box in the widget to get ebook that you want. Mar 25, 2015 the subject of letter from an unknown woman is the essence of character as it can be discerned from appearances, and ophulss bravura camerawork and decorative sense conjure an. The film stars joan fontaine, louis jourdan, mady christians, and marcel journet. By the time you read this letter, i may be dead so begins the heartrending missive from joan fontaines unknown woman to louis jourdans dissolute pianist, its contentsflowing forth in flashbacksa soulbaring record of a lifetime of unrequited love, brief encounters, and romantic regret. Dec, 2017 the movie letter from an unknown woman shows zweig and ophuls at their best. The more i watched, read and listened, the more aware i became of my own performance as both a spectator and subject of my inquiry.
In order to be considered a masterpiece, a film has to have been out for at least five years and i must have seen it more than once. This not only allows enough time for an indepth analysis, but also enough time for proper hindsight and cultural impact to set in. Letter from an unknown woman and other stories by stefan. I talk about the ideas in the film, and about the position it takes regarding one of the perennial. Ophuls the reckless moment is a superior domestic noir with joan bennett. Letter from an unknown woman movie trailer and videos tv guide. The film opens when the pianist receives a letter from an unknown woman. Faculty of humanities and social sciences, university of zagreb, zagreb, croatia.
For a very melodramatic film, theres a strange absence of conflict that i found. Letter from an unknown woman and other stories by stefan zweig. There are dramatic scenes, but only the barest shadow of the structured storyline now considered essential in a. Elsewhere in the collection, a young man mistakes the girl he loves for her sister, two erstwhile lovers meet after an age spent apart, and a married woman repays a debt of gratitude to. Allow me, beloved, to tell you the whole story from the beginning. It was based on the novella of the same name by stefan zweig. The classic letter from an unknown woman makes one. Letter from an unknown woman the current the criterion. Thus, in looking at the film, i wanted to see how i could use myself as a research probe to reflect on and inspect the series of encounters i had with letter from an unknown woman over the course of five years. A dust jacket blurb described it as a black comedy.
Stefans zweigs letter from an unknown woman and other stories contains a new translation by the awardwinning anthea bell of one of his most celebrated novellas, letter from an unknown woman, the inspiration for a classic 1948 hollywood film by max ophuls, as well as three new stories, appearing in english for the first time. The film certainly does offer generous portions of the swooning romance one associates with melodrama. By the end of the film, stefan chooses to fight a duel he initially intended to. Olive signatures bluray of letter from an unknown woman is touted as mastered from new 4k restoration. It indeed looks pristine, and the unsteadiness in the title sequence on the previous disc now seems tamed down. For their first film, they chose an adaptation of stefan zweigs popular 1932 novel letter from an unknown woman.
Letter from an unknown woman and the melancholia of. Pdf letter from an unknown woman and the melancholia of. Letter from an unknown woman is one of the few films that can be said to be truly beautiful. Pianist stefan brand comes home one night a few hours from a duel in which he has no interest in participating. Before he prepares to leave the city, he receives a letter that begins with the above quote. Letter from an unknown woman consists almost entirely of a woman failing to act on a teenage crush. The incomparable max article, east bay express, kelly vance, 1999. Letter from an unknown woman 1948 is the classic romantic film a lush tearjerker par excellence of the bittersweet theme of unrequited, lost love its considered a quintessential womans picture. Nothing makes one as healthy as happiness, and there is no greater happiness than making someone else happy.
Apr 21, 2014 letter from an unknown woman 1948 film was directed by max ophuls. Letter from an unknown woman and other stories quotes showing 1 of but i see nothing miraculous about it. Authorship, max ophuls, auteur, letter from an unknown woman. Set in vienna in 1900, the story is told in a complex flashback structure as the pianist, stefan brand louis jourdan, comes upon a letter written to him by lisa berndl, a girl who has been in love with him for years. Arts, visual and performing short story writers social aspects works women in the motion picture industry analysis women in the movie industry. The subject of this monograph is the 1948 film directed by max ophuls, letter from an unknown woman.
There are dramatic scenes, but only the barest shadow of the structured storyline now considered essential in a hollywood film. Finally, letter from an unknown woman has assumed a central place in the current canon of feminist film criticism. In it, i treat my subject from the point of view of philosophy. Letter from an unknown woman and other stories quotes by. Dec 09, 2000 so writes the apparently unknown woman of the title in stefan zweigs moving short tale of an unrequited love that is brought to a tragic conclusion. Letter from an unknown woman critics consensus golden age hollywood romance doesnt get much better than letter from an unknown woman, a powerful tale of doomed love. Max ophuls letter from an unknown woman 1948 is particularly accelerated. A genuine classics classic, and a womens film that completely transcends that pigeonhole category, max ophuls letter from an unknown woman is the german filmmakers american masterpiece. Letter from an unknown woman is a 1948 american blackandwhite drama romance film released by universalinternational and directed by max ophuls listed as max opuls in the opening credits sequence. Based on the 1922 novella of the same name, letter from an unknown woman is a 1948 film directed by max ophuls. Letter from an unknown woman by stefan zweig books. Izvorni znanstveni clanak letter from an unknown woman and the melancholia of philosophy. Letter from an unknown woman based on stephen zweigs viennaset story that was adapted by max ophuls, the sumptuously lensed chinese costumer letter from an unknown woman has many of. Letter is operating within the framework of classical hollywood cinema, creating a sense of spontaneity through a strict structure.
This woman tells him that she knew him for 20 years now. Starring joan fontaine, louis jourdan, mady christians and marcel journet. The classic letter from an unknown woman makes one wonder. Zweigs short stories are good, but letter from an unknown woman blows all the ones ive read until now out of the water. Letter from an unknown woman is a 1948 american drama romance film that was directed by max ophuls.
This is precisely what is on offer in xu jingleis 2004 adaptation of letter from an unknown woman where the recollection of the individual constitutes a recapturing of cultural memory. Oscars best picture winners best picture winners golden globes emmys san diego comiccon new york comiccon sundance film festival toronto intl film festival awards central festival central all events. Having watched the film, i became entranced by its style but less so with its actual story. The louis jourdan website letter from an unknown woman. She builds up a fantasy world where they can be happy together. Letter from an unknown woman letterboxd social film. Thus begins the letter that gives letter from an unknown woman its title. Since the film is easily subsumed into the category of women s films and since the themes of the film, such as desire, personal renunciation, and death, all fall well within the areas traditionally encompassed by the hollywood. Letter from an unknown woman is regarded as a masterpiece, and was selected for preservation in the us national film registry in 1992.
Joan fontaine plays a girl then a woman who is sexually obligated and infatuated to louis jourdan, who is sexually free and only obligated to his music. Letter from an unknown woman and 3 related entities. But in 1948 ophuls was given an opportunity to display his legendary technique in a movie no one would have trouble understanding, the indulgently romantic letter from an unknown woman. Letter from an unknown womans signature camera movement, however, is the panning, not the tracking, shot. On the subject of stefans conversion by the end of the film and its representation of a mans journey into symbolic order, and thus into history, see tania modleski, time and desire in the womans film, letter from an unknown woman, ed. This analysis hinges on a close reading of stefan zweigs letter from an unknown woman as a point of access to articulating these concerns, as cavells own writing on the subject in contesting. If lisa had told the truth or even offered a modicum of explanation at any point in. The movie letter from an unknown woman shows zweig and ophuls at their best. His noir effort caught gave us the debut of barbara bel geddes but fell victim to lastminute reshoots. The concept is simple, the characters are few and the story is short but this somehow made the ladys tale still sadder. As an adult, they finally meet, and he appears to be deeply interested in her. The rerelease of max ophulss 1948 classic letter from an unknown woman provides a luxurious swathe of emotion. Intently listening to letter from an unknown woman max ophuls, 1953 is like watching the film for the first time. Almost all the elements of the novella are in the film, with a few slight changes that enhanced the narrative so it would be suitable for the release of the film.
Legendary european director max ophuls deeplymoving, timeless film is considered his greatest and most successful american film but a film unlike most hollywood films. Letter from an unknown woman awards and nominations. If max ophuls hadnt cooled his heels in hollywood to flee the nazis, his name might have conjured only the most unintelligible of foreign cinemavague and inaccessible to the average american filmgoer. Perhaps the finest american film from the famed european director max ophuls, the film. Download letter from unknown woman pdf or read letter from unknown woman pdf online books in pdf, epub and mobi format. This is the story of lisa, a woman who secretly desires her neighbor stefan. Letter from an unknown woman 1948 the film spectrum. Letter from an unknown woman 1948 is the classic romantic film a lush tearjerker par excellence of the bittersweet theme of unrequited, lost love its overview of letter from an unknown woman, 1948, directed by max opuls, with joan fontaine, louis jourdan, mady christians, at turner classic movies. The greatest films selected do not include foreign films or nonenglish language films for purposes of specialization and focus. Letter from an unknown woman 1948 is the classic romantic film a lush tearjerker par excellence of the bittersweet theme of unrequited, lost love its considered a quintessential woman s picture. Taking place in vienna in the early twentieth century, lisa, a teenager living read more about letter from an unknown woman bluray. The film stars joan fontaine, louis jourdan, mady christians, and marcel journet in 1992, letter from an unknown woman was selected. Universal had filmed an american version of the story in 1933 as only yesterday, with margaret sullavan making her film debut as a woman hopelessly in love with a man who, years later, does not even remember the encounter that. Letter from an unknown woman 1948 turner classic movies.
The unknown woman, and writer of the letter, is lisa berndle joan fontaine, an ailing woman wanting to get a few important things off her chest. Letter from an unknown woman 1948 official trailer joan fontaine, louis jourdan movie hd duration. Just would like to share one of my favourite quotes from it. In vienna about 1900, the decadent pianist and wolf stefan brand is challenged for a duel by a deceived husband.
The conclusion is unsatisfactory, as if he ran up against a deadline and simply quit the novel. With joan fontaine, louis jourdan, mady christians, marcel journet. Ophulss pans in this filmrotations of the camera from a fixed mountingare brief, poised, constrained. Jul 28, 2016 letter from an unknown woman 1948 max ophuls. An austrian writer receives a letter from an unknown woman on the day of his anniversary. It is also a film that still gets semiregularly lambasted. This masterpiece is inescapably, gloriously a womens movie about the choices women have or dont have, and how they navigate the world.
A typical hollywood film might take ten to fifteen minutes to establish the characters and setting. Golden age hollywood romance doesnt get much better than letter from an unknown woman, a powerful tale of doomed love. The letter is a 1940 american film noir crime drama directed by william wyler, and starring bette davis, herbert marshall and james stephenson. Letter from an unknown woman was one of the many films i first became aware of by watching a personal journey with martin scorsese through american movies, and i remembered it especially because i liked the title. Koch is based on the 1927 play of the same name by w. Watch letter from an unknown woman movie trailers, exclusive videos, interviews from the cast, movie clips and more at. Its recognized as such now, having been drafted into the national film registry quite early 1992. Anatomy of a murder 1959 the nutty professor 1963 the king and i 1956 fight. Daniele amphiteatrofs delicate music score captures a precise viennese flavor. Letter from an unknown woman 1948, max ophuls youtube.
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. Just as intrigued as viewers, stefan dives into the letter over some coffee and cognac, and the narrative shifts to lisas story, signaled by a blurry flashback and fontaines narration. Gerard woodwards letters from an unknown woman was a quick read, but disappointing. Letter from and unknown woman essay 1287 words bartleby.
As she was his neighbour as an 8 years old child, she fell madly in love with him, observing him secretly. Letter from an unknown woman max ophuls, 1948 dennis grunes. Legendary european director max ophuls deeplymoving, timeless film is considered his greatest and most successful american film but a film. Zweigs book is a firstperson account of a womans heartwrenching masochistic love for a famous novelist. Letter from an unknown woman 1948 plot summary imdb. Letter from an unknown woman film at lincoln center. Letter from an unknown woman 1948 behind the scenes analysis of the film about max ophuls director 25. Letter from an unknown woman is a 1948 american blackandwhite drama romance film.
Letter from an unknown woman program note, harvard film archive, 2000. Please activate cookies in order to turn autoplay off. Feb 28, 2007 letter from an unknown womans signature camera movement, however, is the panning, not the tracking, shot. He arrives in his apartment and tells his dumb butler john that he intends to leave vienna to avoid the scheduled duel, and john delivers a letter from an unknown woman to him. Based on the 1922 novella of the same name, letter from an unknown woman is a 1948 film directed by max ophuls, starring joan fontaine and louis jourdan. Letter from an unknown woman is one of the greatest films of the 40s, and therefore of all time. Jan 09, 2014 letter from an unknown woman, which i have in two stefan zweig short story collections, is a beautifully written, bittersweet novella. In vienna, about 1900, a dashing man arrives at his flat, instructing his manservant that he will leave before morning. Letter is a film about the recent chinese past the 1930s and 1940s but like many melodramas and womans films, it centers on a single female protagonist.
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