The immensely moving tale of Lisa (Joan Fontaine), a young woman’s periodic encounters with concert pianist Stefan Brand (Louis Jourdan), is told through a letter received by Brand.  The letter tells how Lisa fell in love with him as a girl, but was devastated when, after spending the night with him, he vanished from her life.

Leaving Germany after the ascendancy of the Nazi party, director Max Ophuls made films in France and Italy before emigrating to Hollywood in the late 1940s. Letter From An Unknown Woman is perhaps the best known of the four films he made there before returning to Europe. Adapted from a novella by Stefan Zweig, the project gave Ophuls the opportunity to recreate turn-of-the-century Vienna, an old world he had left behind. The sentimental material is elevated by the director’s refined visual style, typified in the elaborate moving camera shots for which he is famous.

Letter From An Unknown Woman will be introduced by QUAD CEO Eleanor Thornley and will feature a post show discussion. 

Too Much! For These Isles! has been made possible with support from Film Hub Midlands through funds from the National Lottery. Film Hub Midlands support people to watch, show, and make films in the Midlands.