Monday, 31 December 2012

Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)



☆ ☆ ☆ 

Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948) -- M. Ophüls

Max Ophüls' film is oh so European, so I wonder how American audiences received it (in 1948). It also fits perfectly into what later shaped up to be his oeuvre, with a dark/stark look at romance told across time in an episodic/flashback structure. The opulence masks the emptiness inside (or doesn't it?). Joan Fontaine loves Louis Jourdan but he is too self-absorbed to notice (most of the time). In truth, I prefer Ophüls' later French films but the style here, light and dark, is tactile and impressive.


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