--- title: "Letter from an Unknown Woman: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/letter-from-an-unknown-woman/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/letter-from-an-unknown-woman" critics_score: 78 critics_reviews: 10 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948): what the critics said Critics' score 78 from 10 reviews: 9 positive, 0 mixed, 1 negative. ## Film Comment — Molly Haskell Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 1 November 2017. The critic praises the film as the ravishing apotheosis of classic romantic cinema and the woman’s melodrama, highlighting its opulent yet austere style and exploration of transformative, often destructive love. She singles out the central performance by Joan Fontaine and Ophüls’s masterful use of tracking shots and music for particular praise. [Read the review](https://www.filmcomment.com/ive-seen-somewhere-soulmates-ophulss-letter-unknown-woman/) ## Slant Magazine — Eric Henderson Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 25 October 2012. The critic praises Ophüls's florid, extravagant direction as creating a melodramatic perfect storm around the thwarted lovers. The amusement park date scene and the film's subjective point of view are singled out for particular admiration. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/letter-from-an-unknown-woman/) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 11 February 2010. The rerelease offers a luxurious swathe of emotion in this gripping and tragic story of unrequited passion spanning a decade in fin-de-siècle Vienna. The melodrama is fashioned to perfection with gorgeous recreation of the city and vivid performances. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/feb/11/letter-unknown-woman-film-review) ## The Telegraph Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 21 April 2014. Ophüls's melodrama is heartbreaking and uplifting, with luscious visual audacity and swooping camerawork that matches the vertiginous story of doomed romance in turn-of-the-century Vienna. [Read the review](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/10766092/Letter-from-an-Unknown-Woman-review.html) ## Time Out — Tom Huddleston Rating 5 out of 5 stars. 9 February 2010. The critic calls it a grand, heartbreaking masterpiece that resonates with sad, simple truths about love and beauty. They single out the opulent design, sweeping fluid camerawork and devastating central performances. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/letter-from-an-unknown-woman) ## The New Yorker — Richard Brody Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 25 March 2015. Ophüls sees into the depths that surfaces so subtly suggest through his bravura camerawork and decorative sense, conjuring an exquisitely calibrated romanticism. The subject is the essence of character as it can be discerned from appearances. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/movie-of-the-week-letter-from-an-unknown-woman) ## Variety — Variety Staff Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 31 December 1947. Joan Fontaine and Louis Jourdan turn in splendid performances in difficult parts. Max Ophuls’ direction holds the story together with a leisurely pace, little touches of warmth and heart, and an artistic flavor that captures early-day Vienna. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1947/film/reviews/letter-from-an-unknown-woman-1200415822/) ## The Times — Wendy Ide Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 12 February 2010. The re-release of this gorgeously tragic 1948 melodrama serves as nice Valentine’s Day counter-programming, with Joan Fontaine as the woman whose love for the dashing cad leads to her downfall. [Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/sex-relationships/article/letter-from-an-unknown-woman-77svpknwl3h) ## The New York Times Fi1m's normalised score 20/100 (inferred from the text). 29 April 1948. The film is an obvious onslaught on the heart-strings, heavy with wistfulness and pseudo-Viennese schmaltz. It is over-written with rhetoric and tommy-rot, though Joan Fontaine and Louis Jourdan make a pleasant romantic unit. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1948/04/29/archives/the-screen-letter-from-unknown-woman-with-fontaine-and-jourdan.html) ## Eye for Film — Nicola Osborne Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 19 January 2001. Festival review. The critic calls it a beautifully shot and involving tragic classic, a three-tissue melodrama set in early 20th-century Vienna. She praises Joan Fontaine's understated performance as the devoted obsessive and notes the film's convincing leads and comic cameos, while finding the ending somewhat over-redemptive and over-the-top. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/letter-from-an-unknown-woman-film-review-by-nicola-osborne) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/letter-from-an-unknown-woman.md