198: Letter from an Unknown Woman

US  86m  Dir: Max Ophuls  Key Cast: Joan Fontaine

Based on: Letter from an Unknown Woman by Stefan Zweig (Novella)

Given that all the narration in this film, and there's a fair bit of it, comes from a letter I couldn't help but wonder just how long poor Lisa was sat writing for. 

Pianist Stefan Brand (Louis Jordan) receives a letter. Lisa Berndle (Joan Fontaine) tells how she fell in love with Brand as an eighteen-year-old from afar before the pair eventually met properly and spent a romantic day together. Lisa falls pregnant with his child and years later bumps into him at the opera.

There are certainly elements of this film that feel a bit off as a modern viewer. Lisa 'falling in love' with Stefan at eighteen initially feels a bit like a teenage infatuation but she becomes completely obsessive and essentially stalks him for years. No-one really seems to question this strange behaviour and it feels weird rather than romantic as it appears to have been intended. 

What is romantic is the day Lisa and Stefan spend together. Having only seen him from afar it felt like he could be disappointing but no, Stefan is a very charming man. The pair spend much of the day at a fairground which is nearly empty given it's the middle of winter and snow covers the ground. They spend a lot of time on a ride that simulates a train by having an old man pedaling a banner of scenes past the window and they keep having more rides. The whole sequence is beautiful and the actors completely sell the love story.

The plot of the film mostly relies on Lisa's odd decisions. The film almost seems to blame Stefan for not remembering the woman he spent a few hours with a decade ago. If Lisa had just bothered to tell him who she was there would have been a happy ending! I felt sorry for the poor man who must surely be emotionally wrecked upon receiving such a letter and all because Lisa couldn't just make a rational decision. 

An atmospheric film with some hugely romantic sequences which is lessened a little by the absurd irrational behaviour of the lead character.