Letter from an Unknown Woman

[knitwit45]

Is anyone else excited about finally getting to see this movie? It has been discussed here, I know (couldn't find a thread on it) and the whole evening sounds divine...Louis Jourdan is a guest in my house tonight! (hubba-hubba!)

[Lzcutter]

I'm looking forward to it as well! I haven't seen it almost forty years!

[knitwit45]

Lynn, you're still 40 years ahead of me! This is totally new to me.

[ChiO]

Nancy: Be sure to have a couple of boxes of Kleenex available. Between this movie and this afternoon's basketball game, you'll need them.

[knitwit45]

HA!

[charliechaplinfan]

Nancy, you'll love it, it's magical cinema and you will need those kleenex

[moira finnie]

Oh, Nancy. Turn off the phone, pull up a chair and see what you think. I hope you can enjoy this movie without distraction. It is such a beautifully made film and one that seems different each time I've seen it.

[feaito]

My second favorite movie of all time. I'm glad it's being broadcast. A masterpiece! I own the Zone 2 DVD edition.

[feaito]

This is something I wrote back in 2004 when I first saw this film, when I was 6 years younger :

I must say that there have been few movies (dramas) which have emotioned me so much as this work of art by master director Max Ophüls (credited as Opuls here)...only films like "Portrait of Jennie" or "Dodsworth"...this was another one-of-a-kind experience for me.

I had read so much about it, that I had to SEE it...so I bought this VHS here, at Amazon.com marketplace sellers, where I've always made great transactions & had very good overall experiences, especially when it comes to obtain, these "out of stock/print", kind of elusive gems.

Joan Fontaine gives what one can easily be, the most wondrous, poetic, performance, she ever gave, including "Rebecca" and "Suspicion"...Here she simply is at her very best, close to perfection...just as Jennifer Jones, gave (IMHO) THE performance of her career in the aforementioned "Portrait of Jennie". She convicingly grows from an "innocent" adolescent who falls deeply in love with an artist (Louis Jourdan), looking him, following him, listening to him, "in hiding", "in the shadows", quietly, living her life only "for/because of him"... although he's unaware of that. This obsession of hers with this man, reaches to a point where nothing makes sense to her without him. It's platonic love & adoration, taken to extreme limits, almost to the boundaries of insanity, yet so disarmingly naive and true!

Louis Jourdan is equally effective, as the debonair, devil-make-care, playboy, man of the world, pianist, who realizes too late, what has been going on.

Wonderful art direction, sets, mood, atmosphere, cinematography, narration...excellent "raccontos/flashbacks"...great camera work, gowns, period detail...everything is so right...especially the truth in Lisa's (Fontaine) very deep love for this man, who becomes the only reason of her life, of her "breathing", of her "existence".

Max Ophüls really made a work of art, out of this movie...which by the way, I read somewhere, had a similar plot than the 1933 "Only Yesterday", which marked the debut in the american cinema, of that gorgeous actress, Margaret Sullavan; although Ophüls' film, is by far superior...'cos it "trascends" the "Tearjerker" status; it has an ethereal quality all of his own.

Not since watching "Shadowlands" in March of this year, I had felt & been so moved by a film. Really, ROMANTIC, unrequited love, at his best. And I tell you, I'm not an "easy" person...in other words, I do not "emote" easily, and at the film's conclussion, I have no shame in admitting that I cried like a baby. It reached my heart & soul.

This film ought to be restored and released on dvd format, since it is one of the landmark films of all time. Although I must say the Republic VHS Edition, is decent indeed.

[ken123]

Hate to be out of step but I found it boring.

[moira finnie]

Hate to be out of step but I found it boring.

I think it is one of those movies that some people are extremely fond of and others find tedious. No biggie. I thought you might enjoy seeing the wonderful Art Smith as the valet playing a different role with so much muted eloquence.

I half-watched last night's broadcast and was more impressed by Joan Fontaine's performance than before. She was a remarkable actress--up to this film. Something went out of her work later. I wonder if it was her heart--or if, like most of us, she found that life makes being that open and expressive too hard. I loved Robert Osborne's description of Max Ophuls and Joan Fontaine's relationship, despite the language barriers.

[ken123]

Hate to be out of step but I found it boring.

I think it is one of those movies that some people are extremely fond of and others find tedious. No biggie. I thought you might enjoy seeing the wonderful Art Smith as the valet playing a different role with so much muted eloquence.

I half-watched last night's broadcast and was more impressed by Joan Fontaine's performance than before. She was a remarkable actress--up to this film. Something went out of her work later. I wonder if it was her heart--or if, like most of us, she found that life makes being that open and expressive too hard. I loved Robert Osborne's description of Max Ophuls and Joan Fontaine's relationship, despite the language barriers.

moira,
I did enjoy seeing Art Smith in to say the least an odd role for him, and I was immersed in the story about 95% of the way. The final 5% just dragged and I so wanted to end.

[ChiO]

For me, one could replace Louis Jourdan with Louis Jordan, and Joan Fontaine with Frankie Fontaine, and it would still be a stunning cinematic experience. This film is Max Ophuls and his camera. It approaches Murnau's DER LETZE MANN as the gold standard of pure cinema. Turn off the sound and be swept away by the camera...and you'll still figure out all that's important in the story.

And, golly, Ophuls only made three or four movies that I like even more.

[knitwit45]

I enjoyed this movie, perhaps not carried away by it, but it was a lovely film. I was stunned by Joan Fontaine, and how good she was. Usually she seems so remote and untouchable, as if she's holding the biggest part of herself away from us, but here she was incredible. M. Jourdan's Stefan was not so much a scoundrel as he was just a pitiful shell of a burned out romeo. The practiced seduction, studying himself in the mirror, and yet the seeming sincerity when he left Lisa the first time, all made me wonder if she was truly in love with him, or just the idea of him.
I agree with ChiO, the "look" of the movie was the best part of it. This just wouldn't have been as effective in color. So much of the story takes place at night, or in dark, secretive places, and color just wouldn't do.

I'm glad I finally got to see it, and hope some of you who are much more articulate than I will post your thoughts, also.

[mrsl]

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Ken123:

I'm glad you said what you did, because I was thinking there are worse things wrong with me than people have said there are. I found the best thing about this movie to be that Louis Jourdan looked good when he was younger, but Fontaine had that same remote, what am I doing here and who am I, look about her.

So I am wrong in my assessment since so many people have raved about it, but I'm the person who still thinks Johnny Guitar is a rollicking comedy, so who am I to say?
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