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Adapted from a story by Stephan Stefan Zweig, the movie indulges in one of those classic narrative structures you don’t see much anymore: a present-tense story forms the parentheses for a flashback that lasts nearly the entire film and, as it unfolds, powerfully inflects the story framing it. One night in Vienna, around 1900, a graying and rather dissipated concert pianist (Louis Joudan) is dropped off at his flat by two friends, and the dialogue among them reveals that an irate husband has challenged the pianist to a duel the next morning. But when he arrives in his flat, waiting for him is a long letter from a woman (Joan Fontaine) who’s been hovering at the periphery of his consciousness for more than a decade. By the time the pianist finishes reading it, he’s come to realize that her silent devotion to him might have brought great meaning to his life—but by then it’s too late.
Some kind soul has posted the entire movie on YouTube, and I’ve linked to the first segment below. See if you can watch it without being pulled through the other 15.
