LETTER FROM AN
UNKNOWN WOMAN
The MAX OPHULS Collection

‘Incredibly beautiful’ François Truffaut
‘For some of us, Max Ophuls was the
best French filmmaker’ François Truffaut

Philandering concert pianist Stefan arrives home to find a letter which begins ‘by the time you read this I may be dead’. So unfolds the story of Lisa, one of many woman with whom he had shared a brief encounter over the years and swiftly forgotten. Her life had been spent loving him unfalteringly and now he would learn the truth about his past.
Set in turn of the century Vienna, this haunting tale is perhaps cinema’s greatest unrequited love story and is considered to be one of Ophul’s great masterpieces.

Max Ophuls is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most revered directors in the history of cinema. His trademark array of lavish, fluid camera movements would influence generations of filmmakers to come. Among the many who have praised his genius are François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick (who believed ‘his camera could pass through walls’) and more recently directors such as Todd Haynes and Paul Thomas Anderson who called him his ‘idol’.

Starring:
JOAN FONTAINE · LOUIS JOURDAN
MADY CHRISTIANS · MARCEL JOURNET

Special Feature:
· Video Essay by film historian Tag Gallagher

Main Feature 84 MINS
Cert: U
Cat No: 2NDVD 3104