Letter From an Unknown Woman (1948)

100% of critics liked it
(20 reviews)
86% of users liked it
(2,237 ratings)

Perhaps the finest American film from the famed European director Max Ophüls, the film stars Joan Fontaine as a young woman who falls in love with a concert pianist. Set in Vienna in 1900, the story is told in a complex flashback structure as the pianist, Stefan Brand (Louis Jourdan), comes upon a… More Perhaps the finest American film from the famed European director Max Ophüls, the film stars Joan Fontaine as a young woman who falls in love with a concert pianist. 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 (Fontaine), a girl who has been in love with him for years. Stefan is in the process of fleeing Vienna on the eve of fighting a duel. As he prepares himself for the nocturnal journey, the letter arrives. It begins, "By the time you read this letter, I may be dead." As Stefan sits back in his study to read this letter, it turns out to be a confession of unrequited love from Lisa. The story flashes backs to when Lisa was 14 years old and Stefan was her neighbor. After following Stefan with a girlish obsession, the romance gets much more serious, and they have a brief encounter. Stefan promises to come back to her after a concert tour, but he never does. Meanwhile, Lisa marries another man when she discovers that she is pregnant with Stefan's child. When she runs into Stefan years later, he doesn't remember her and tries to seduce her. After Stefan reads the letter, he wants to rush to her side, but now poor Lisa is dying from typhus. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 30 min.
Directed By: Max Ophüls
Written By: Howard Koch, Stefan Zweig
Genres: Drama, Romance

In Theaters: Apr 28, 1948 Limited
Studio: Universal Pictures

Critic Reviews

Don Druker, Chicago Reader
A breathtaking, bitter, exquisitely orchestrated exploration of love and selfishness by Max Ophuls.
Sean Axmaker, Parallax View
[Max] Ophuls' first personal project in Hollywood and he injects this exquisitely stylish romantic melodrama with his continental sensibility.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
A moving weepie woman's picture.
Anthony Quinn, Independent
A weepie like they don't make them like anymore.
Michael W. Phillips, Jr., Goatdog's Movies
One of Hollywood's, and cinema's, grandest and most emotionally satisfying tales of unrequited love and self-sacrifice.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
One of the greatest achievements in American film.
Michael E. Grost, Classic Film and Television
Remarkable romantic drama.
David Parkinson, Empire Magazine
Does the job of the perfect melodrama and moves the audience to tears.
, Time Out
Of all the cinema's fables of doomed love, none is more piercing than this.
Nell Minow, Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies
Heartbreaking.
, Austin Chronicle
In the hands of Max Ophuls, the stuff of penultimate melodrama becomes the stuff of exquisite observation and contemplation.
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Gorgeously mounted Ophuls film.
Jon Fortgang, Film4
An atmospheric and unsettling mix of European style and Hollywood muscle, this is a beautifully shot and thought-provoking film about lost love.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
Watching it is like finding a locket you thought you had lost, one which contains the picture of someone who once broke your heart.

Read all 14 critic reviews

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Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

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Featured Audience Ratings

Nicki M

Very sad, literally could not tear myself away from this one.
Stephen M

A young girl's infatuation with a womanizing concert pianist ends in tragedy. What I like best about this elegant weepie is the way that it gently subverts Fontaine's typical screen persona. At first glance, her character is every bit as mousy and vulnerable as usual, but… More
A young girl's infatuation with a womanizing concert pianist ends in tragedy. What I like best about this elegant weepie is the way that it gently subverts Fontaine's typical screen persona. At first glance, her character is every bit as mousy and vulnerable as usual, but behind this façade lies a remarkably strong-minded young woman; she knows what she wants and - flouting all respectability, and against her own better judgement - she sets out to get it. Although the film chooses not to dwell on the ensuing scandals, on more than one occasion she sacrifices her good name and social standing for the man she loves. I also like the way that Ophüls credits us with intelligence enough to draw certain parallels for ourselves, without spoon-feeding. A good example of this would be the scene where Fontaine says goodbye to her son at the railway station; many lesser directors would have inserted a flashback to her abandonment by Louis Jourdan at this point, or at the very least a snippet of dialogue from that earlier scene.
jay n

a sad haunting quality hangs over the film which fits the story well
Dimitris S

You have to feel this movie.It's been quite some time and the leftovers are sheer gratitude of the melodrama of our protagonists.Ophuls conquered Hollywood by reversing the stereotypical mechanisms and bringing a fresh air.Fontaine may shine for example yet it's that… More
You have to feel this movie.It's been quite some time and the leftovers are sheer gratitude of the melodrama of our protagonists.Ophuls conquered Hollywood by reversing the stereotypical mechanisms and bringing a fresh air.Fontaine may shine for example yet it's that tormenting the personality she possesses ,you can't bare handling her inner burden of her "lost",solid,possibly inapt love.

Cast

            Joan Fontaine as Lisa Berndle

            Louis Jourdan as Stefan Brand

            Mady Christians as Frau Berndle

            Marcel Journet as Johann Stauffer

            Art Smith as John

            Carol Yorke as Marie

            Howard Freeman as Herr Kastner

            John Good as Lt. Leopold von Kaltnegger

            Erskine Sanford as Porter

            Otto Waldis as Concierge

            Louis Austin as Elderly Woman

            Sonja Blyden as Frau Spitzer

            Betty Blythe as Frau Kohner

            Paul E. Burns as 2nd Concierge

            Douglas Carter Beane
            
            Edmund Cobb as 2nd Carriage Driver

            Jack Gargan as Man

            Lisa Golm as Woman Musician

            Ilka Gruning as Woman Ticket Taker

            Ramsay Hill as Col. Steindorf

            Rex Lease as Station Attendant

            Will Lee as Mover

            Arthur Lovejoy as Footman

            Celia Lovsky as Flower Vendor

            Michael Mark as Cafe Customer

            John McCallum as Store Helper

            Torben Meyer as Carriage Driver

            Leo Mostovoy as Older Man

            Fred Nurney as Officer on Street

            Leo B. Pessin as Stefan Jr.

            Shimen Ruskin as Older Man

            Lester Sharpe as Critic

            Lotte Stein as Woman Musician

            Hermine Sterler as Mother Superior

            William Trenk as Fritzel

            Roland Varno as Second

            Audrey Wilder as Pretty

            Manuel Paris as Baron's Second

            Jean Ransome as Maid

            Diane Stewart
            
            Doretta Johnson
            
            Cy Stevens
            
            Vera Stokes as Girlfriend
See full cast