AFTER LIEBELEI, OPHULS WAS ON THE RUN, AND DIRECTED FILMS IN FRANCE, ITALY AND HOLLAND FOR MORE THAN A DECADE. WHEN HE FINALLY MADE IT TO HOLLYWOOD, HIS FIRST EXPERIENCE WAS AN UNHAPPY ONE. BUT WHEN THE OSCAR-WINNING ACTRESS JOAN FONTAINE CAME UPON A NOVELLA BY STEFAN ZWEIG SET IN 19TH CENTURY VIENNA, SHE APPROACHED JOHN HOUSEMAN, WHO HAD PRODUCED ORSON WELLES’S CITIZEN KANE. THE VIENNESE SETTING OF ZWIEG’S TALE REMINDED HOUSEMAN HE WAS A BIG FAN OF LIEBELEI, AND THAT LED TO OPHULS’ BEING HIRED TO DIRECT LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN, WITH A SCRIPT BY ANOTHER WELLES ASSOCIATE, HOWARD KOCH. OPHULS BROUGHT ALONG FRANZ PLANER, THE DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY OF LIEBELEI. THE STORY IS ABOUT A WOMEN RECOUNTING HER THREE MEETINGS WITH A MAN (LOUIS JOURDAN), WHOM SHE FIRST MEETS AS A TEENAGER AND WITH WHOM SHE HAS A ONE-NIGHT STAND YEARS LATER. TIME PASSES, AND SHE WRITES HIM A LETTER TO TELL HER STORY - BUT OF COURSE HE DOESN’T REMEMBER HER. OPHULS’ TRACKING SHOTS COMMUNICATE BOTH THE EXHILARATION AND BITTERSWEET TONE OF THIS HEARTBREAKING WORK. MIN