Review of Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948) by William C — 28 Jun 2009

This film is often coupled with "Earrings of Madame de..." as the best work in Ophuls' career, but I didn't see it. Despite her limited range, I think Fontaine is lovely, but this role asks her to be mostly drab for the first half, and then beset by a silly pile of curly hair in the second.

Jourdan spends the first half of the film just reading the titular letter, and otherwise I think he was there to be handsome. Of all the films in the Siskel's retrospective of "late" Ophuls, this is the only one that I thought lacked humor.

Even "Caught," which is possibly more melodramatic than "Letter," also has a lighter side. But the real shortcoming here is that the characters aren't very compelling. It's mentioned less often, but I think "The Reckless Moment" is Ophuls' second best film, and in some ways surpasses "Madame de.

.." (e.g., in its understanding of contemporary gender politics, it's the most modern of Ophuls' films). Speaking of which, the other major disappointment in "Letter" is that Fontaine plays the weakest female character in a body of work that is usually a great place for women to be (perhaps Martine Carol's lead role in "Lola Montes" is close to Fontaine's in terms of its thinness).