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Pere Lachaise, originally uploaded by 160507.

In the cemetery in Paris I went looking for the grave of Max Ophuls. My all-time favorite movie list consists of a bunch of screwball comedies and one romantic tragedy: Letter From An Unknown Woman by Ophuls. Based on a story by Stefan Zweig, Letter is the story of Liesl, a woman who falls in love with a handsome jerk. She’s so consumed by her passion, she can’t see that, one, he’s a jerk, and two, she’s being bonkers. Liesl is played by Joan Fontaine, who is so fabulous that instead of wanting to slap her (Masochist!! But she would’ve liked that), you sort of understand her. The man is played by Louis Jourdan, who is so handsome it’s ridiculous.

We see in a flashback how Liesl, 16, yearns for the pianist who lives upstairs. But she’s a child and he doesn’t know she’s alive. He’s the toast of Vienna, and beautiful women are in and out of his apartment at all hours. Then her family moves to Linz, but she does not forget him. Years later she returns to Vienna and goes to all the places he goes. Stalks him, basically. He notices her at last, seduces her, and then leaves.

In his long absence, she bears him a son, but does not tell him. (Martyr!!) She meets a rich man who falls in love with her, marries her, and brings up her son. Many years later the pianist, having squandered his talent, returns to Vienna. He spots Liesl with her husband at the opera. . .and seduces her again! And here’s the kicker: He doesn’t remember who she is! Liesl suffers and suffers and suffers, but she does it so exquisitely that there must be something in that torment. All this time the camera never stops moving, taking us right into Liesl’s soul.

There was no monument to Max Ophuls. His ashes and those of his wife were in the columbarium, their names engraved on a plain slab of marble. I wondered if people came to visit him. Liesl would, all fluttery and nervous, eyes darting about in search of her forgetful pianist.

Click on the photo to see pictures of Pere Lachaise cemetery.