Letter from an Unknown Woman Reviews

Ophuls at his best of two worlds. Hollywood straight to the facts storytelling, with european decadence (musical and of manners and honor), and wonderful filming. Jourdan is the real unknown, Fontaine is everything.

Honestly, I really had a hard time with this flick. I actually had never heard of it and saw it above all because it it was included in the ‘1001 movies you must see before you die’ list. I don’t know, maybe I wasn’t in the right mood when I watched it. Basically, it is an uber-romantic tale about a doomed love story and, right from the start, they make sure you won’t have any hope that they would end up together one way or the other. At first, I was worried that they would never speak to each other and I thought ‘Girl, either you’re going to talk to that man or you’re going to do something else with your life’ but, at last, they got together so there was some hope but, then, he apparently forgets about her(!) and she gets pregnant in the mean time. Since they seemed deeply in love that seemed rather far-fetched but, well. I was ok with the fact that he didn’t recognize her the 2nd time they met since they barely talked to each other when they lived in the same building but it was fairly unconvincing that he wouldn’t recognize her when he meets her a 3rd time maybe a decade later. So you see where it goes, you either love that kind of story or you don’t. Personally, I’m not a huge fan, but I have to admit it, the directing was very neat, the actors involved were quite good so it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.