Letter From an Unknown Woman

Letter From an Unknown Woman (1948)

  • 100% of critics liked it
    (21 reviews)

  • 86% of users liked it
    (2,389 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

Unrated,
Directed By
Written By
Howard Koch, Stefan Zweig
Genres
Drama, Romance
In Theaters
Apr 28, 1948 Limited
Universal Pictures

Critic Reviews

  • , Time Out

    Of all the cinema's fables of doomed love, none is more piercing than this.

  • Don Druker, Chicago Reader

    A breathtaking, bitter, exquisitely orchestrated exploration of love and selfishness by Max Ophuls.

  • Josh Larsen, LarsenOnFilm

    ...a women's picture that nonetheless turns on male chauvinism.

  • Eric Henderson, Slant Magazine

    The waltzing heartbreak of Letter from an Unknown Woman serves as the gateway to Max Ophüls's late-period string of masterpieces.

  • Sean Axmaker, Parallax View

    [Max] Ophuls' first personal project in Hollywood and he injects this exquisitely stylish romantic melodrama with his continental sensibility.

Read all 14 critic reviews

See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes

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

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • Pierluigi P


    One of the most heartwrenching melodramas I've seen. I actually had to contain myself from shedding tears, witnessing the passion, intensity and beauty it exudes.

  • 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

  • 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

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Cast

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