SOURCE: "Time and Desire in the Woman's Film," in German Film & Literature: Adaptations and Transformations, edited by Eric Rentschler, Methuen, 1986, pp. 326-36.

In the following essay, originally published in 1984, Modleski examines the melodramatic elements in Ophuls's Letter from an Unknown Woman.

Max Ophuls' 1948 film, Letter from an Unknown Woman, which is set in turn-of-the-century Vienna, begins late at night with the hero of the story, Stefan, returning by coach to his home and promising to fight a duel at dawn. That his attitude toward the situation is utterly frivolous is obvious from his remark as he steps out of the coach: 'Gentlemen, I don't so much mind being killed, but you know how I hate to get up in the morning.' Reaching his home, he tells his mute servant, John, that they should prepare for immediate departure since he does not intend to fight the duel. At...