Review of Portrait of Jennie (1948) by Terry W — 21 Mar 2011

A haunting beautiful love story which easily is one of the best I have seen. Eben is a struggling artist living in New York City. He is painter and is having trouble selling his work. One day while walking through the park he meets a mysterious young girl named Jeannie.

The two are drawn towards each other and Jeannie even asks him to wait for her to grow up so they can be together. Eden is inspired and draws a portrait if Jeannie which sells quickly. Eden sees Jeannie again, this time she appears to have grown older.

She talks about things which happened in the past like they were yesterday with Eben and then leave disappearing rather quickly. The Portrait of Jeannie is a mesmerizing tale of love; the discovery, loss, and the idea of love being eternal.

It's absolutely gorgeous, street lights pierce through ominous fog creating some lasting images. There is one scene in the park where our two main characters are ice skating which is an absolutely gorgeous sequence, specifically how Jeannie is framed by the skyscrapers of New York with the son coming down from above.

This is a profound script with ideas that were so ahead of their time. Pretty much perfect.