P.D. Ouspensky’s novel, “The Strange Live of Ivan Osokin,” attempts to embody eternal recurrence in the story of a young man who feels he made too many mistakes in his life and wishes to have a second chance. A magician grants him this opportunity, and much to the young man’s chagrin, he forgets his mistakes and repeats them in his second incarnation. Eternal recurrence explains how time is circular, and that events continue to repeat until one remembers (learns) to do otherwise. This particular repetition of time is apparent in Ophuls' Letter and Madame de…: Letter plays with repetition of events and Madame de… plays with destiny and coincidence.
Letter from an Unknown Woman
In Letter, three different time frames overlap; the three hours it takes Stefan to read the letter, the 15 years of Lisa’s memory of him, and the 1.5 hour long film. This layering of time suggests that one is reliving the past in the present, but also living the future in the present, as depicted by the audience’s awareness of the impending death of Lisa and Stefan within the first moments of the film. The overlapping of time periods provides a very strong impression of the repetition of one’s life, like Ivan Osokin.
Repetition
However, the repetitions do not stop with the structure of the script alone; they are reinforced by repeating camera angles and scenes. There are many ‘echoes’ in Letter; for example, Lisa’s entrance into Stefan’s apartment as a young girl on the rug-beating day and once again as a woman with a son prepared to confess her love to him, both accented with the creaking of the lounge door. The event repeats itself, as the camera reinforces with the same camera position. The carriage that drops Stefan off in the beginning revisits Stefan with Stauffer in it, watching his wife enter Stefan’s home; both restating Stefan’s impending death. Also, the unmistakable repetition of Lisa’s farewell to Stefan and her son at the railway station employs the same shot of Lisa’s despair. Both men promise to see her in two weeks, and both fail to see her in one case for ten years and for the other, forever. Even in Reckless Moment, the shot of Lucia walking along the path toward the boathouse is repeated; both times she is interrupted by Sybil and both times a man dies at the boathouse.
Another Reckless Moment
There is repetition in dialogue in Letter and Reckless Moment. “Who is it? Brand. Good morning, Mr. Brand” is repeated several times, almost like an alarm clock sounding to wake him up to remember who his is and who she is! The whole film is about Lisa trying to wake Stefan up, to help him remember so that another life is possible for them; whereas, in his forgetting, only their deaths are possible. Stefan confesses to Lisa that he’s seen her somewhere before, which we know refers to Lisa’s proximity to him, but may also imply that he knew her in a previous life time; that she’s the one, his soul-mate. At the Prater, on the make-believe railway car, Stefan says to the proprietor, “We’ll revisit the scenes of our youth. Then we’ll begin all over again.” This line clearly implies a reliving of life, of perhaps getting it right the second time around. In Reckless Moment, Donnelly, employing the same words as Ivan Osokin, confesses to Lucia, “if only I could turn back and start over.” Finally, the girl in the bar (where Donnelly asks for Nagel) repeats; “No, no, no. Just play the same tune again. The same tune again.” Does she suggest that we can’t change the tune even if we wanted?
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