Letter from and Unknown Woman Essay - 1287 Words

Letter from an Unknown Woman (Max Ophà ¼ls; 1948 United States) is a melodrama film that revolves around a woman’s love for a man who does not acknowledge her existence. Like the other films Max Ophà ¼ls directed in America, Letter from an Unknown Woman focuses on â€Å"impossible love† (Danks, n.d. p. 98). 1. The Shot The particular shot chosen from the film to analyse is the shot after Lisa Berndle (Joan Fontaine) rejected Lieutenant Leopold von Kaltnegger’s (John Good) proposal, and they walk towards Frau Berndle (Mady Christians), Herr Kastner (Howard Freeman) and Lieutenant Leopold’s uncle to break the news. That shot starts with a band commencing their next song, and Lisa and Lieutenant Leopold enters the frame, where the camera starts†¦show more content†¦2.2 The Long Take Ophà ¼ls is also known for his use of long takes (Bacher, 1978). Due to the emergence of continuity editing, the duration of shots are reduced. By the early 1920s, an average shot length was about 5 seconds (Bordwell and Thompson, 2008, p. 213). Although Letter from an Unknown Woman was made in 1948, long after the use of continuity editing arose, the film consists of quite a number of long takes. This shot is about 46 seconds long. Although not as long as Jean Renoir’s or Kenki Mizoguchi’s films, whose shots may go on for several minutes (Bordwell and Thompson, 2008, p. 213), it is still considered longer than the average shot at that time. Long takes and camera movements usually rely on each other. Frame mobility helps to break the long shot into significant smaller units (Bordwell and Thompson, 2008, p. 215). With the use of camera movement, this shot can be broken down into three parts – Lisa and Lieutenant Leopold walking towards their family members, where the camera tracks them, Lieutenant Leopold breaking the news to his uncle, where the camera stays static, and Lisa’s parents questioning Lisa about her refusal, where the camera tracks in from a long shot to a mid-close up shot. Due to this long take, the audience do not get to immediately see the family’s reaction of the bad news. Together with the band in the foreground, the audienceShow MoreRelatedThe Scarlet Letter, By Nathaniel Hawthorne1510 Words   |  7 PagesAlthough Hawthorne goes back two hundred years to create a romantic setting for his famous novel The Scarlet Letter, he also envisions a hopeful future for women in which â€Å"sacred love should make [them] happy† (166). However, our present setting tells us a different story. 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