Brief Encounter (1946)

'Brief Encounter' grabs you from the start, with a chatterbox interrupting a man and a woman who are silently sitting together in the café of a train station, but were clearly in the middle of a conversation before she arrived. When the man (Trevor Howard) eventually departs politely for his train, he presses the shoulder of the woman (Celia Johnson) and slips out through the door. She then takes the train with her friend, who continues to talk incessantly despite her obvious signs of grief. It's at this point that director David Lean first brilliantly utilizes an interior monologue in the mind of the woman. This leads to these fantastic lines:"This can't last. This misery can't last. I must remember that and try to control myself. Nothing lasts really. Neither happiness nor despair. Not even life lasts very long. There'll come a time in the future when I shan't mind about this anymore, when I can look back and say quite peacefully and cheerfully 'how silly I was'. No, no, I don't want that time to come ever. I want to remember every minute, always, always to the end of my days."I was hooked from then on, and the film never let up. Based on a play by Noel Coward, it's very well written, and very well executed. The British production has an intelligent, indie feel to it, it's without major stars, and has nothing resembling the fanfare typical of Hollywood movies at the time. Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 provides a fantastic score, with dramatic moments, and following the ebb and flow of emotions perfectly. As you can probably guess, the pair are involved in forbidden love. After returning home to her kind but somewhat boring husband, who takes more interest in crossword puzzles than in her, she recounts the past, starting again with a brilliant bit of us listening in to her thoughts:"Fred, dear Fred. There's so much that I want to say to you. You're the only one in the world with enough wisdom and gentleness to understand. If only it was somebody else's story and not mine. As it is, you're the only one in the world that I can never tell. Never never. Because even if I waited until we were old, old people and told you then, you'd be bound to look back over the years and be hurt. And my dear, I don't want you to be hurt. You see, we're a happily married couple and let's never forget that. This is my home. You're my husband. And my children are upstairs in bed. I'm a happily married woman - or I was, rather, until a few weeks ago. This is my whole world, and it's enough, or rather, it was until a few weeks ago. But, oh, Fred, I've been so foolish. I've fallen in love. I'm an ordinary woman. I didn't think such violent things could happen to ordinary people."In telling the story, the film captures what it's like to feel yourself slowly but inexorably drawn to another person, even while knowing it's wrong, feeling guilt, and telling yourself that it can't go on. Those early innocent moments lead to those with the subtlest of sparks, and soon the two are on each other's minds throughout the week, until they might meet again each Thursday. It's honest, and far from tawdry. The pair simply fall in love, and as he puts it, "It's no use pretending that it hasn't happened because it has." It's romantic, and heartbreaking at the same time.Lean gives us several fantastic scenes on the railway platform. I also loved the one with Johnson running down the street in the rain, and another with the camera twisting to an angle as it slowly zooms in on her face when he's left. The inclusion of the relationship between an older café owner (Joyce Carey) and a night watchman (Stanley Holloway) is playful and fun, and helps provide a counterpoint to the main story. There is a lot to love here, including a powerful ending.

On the plus side, it was beautifully filmed and Rachmaninoff's music can never be overused - I could listen to it nonstop! The film has much technical merit including insight into middle-class sensibilities and the internal struggle of an ordinary woman to fulfill her family obligations. Unfortunately I found the two main characters, Laura and Alec, overwhelmingly weak and needy! Hard to believe anybody can characterize Alec as virtuous. While he may have the veneer of a good doctor, he was your typical smooth operator, full of himself and likely a serial cheat. Sadly, the way they were more than willing to betray their families made them wholly unlikable: wishy-washy and lacking moral fibre. If anyone in the film stood out, it's the patient and kind spouse, Fred. His compassion and understanding at the very end is the most noble act in this all together tawdry affair. As depressive and dishonest as the wife is, Fred is solid and loyal - proving that he is a better and stronger man. If I was rooting for true love tested, then the ending was perfect.

Director David Lean earned the first Academy recognition for his career when he received a Best Director Oscar nomination, and a Screenplay Writing nomination he shared with Anthony Havelock-Allan and Ronald Neame, for this essential romance drama starring Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard. Johnson received her only Oscar recognition, a Best Actress nomination, for her role as a British housewife in an unexciting marriage such that a "brief encounter" leads to an affair (or does it?). Noel Coward wrote a play called "Still Life", which was the uncredited idea for the film's story.While sitting in her living room with her dependable, yet dull husband Fred (Cyril Raymond) and fumbling with her cross-stitch, Laura Jesson (Johnson) thinks about her relationship with Dr. Alec Harvey (Howard), a man with whom she'd had a chance meeting at a railway station when she'd gone into town. She remembers a great deal of detail, including the characters in the station's coffee shop like the station master Albert Godby (Stanley Holloway), who flirts incessantly with Myrtle (Joyce Carey), the hostess-waitress behind the counter. As if by fate, they meet again and Laura's relationship with Alec, who's also married, grows to the point that they plan to consummate it with a physical encounter at one of his friend's apartment.The film's story is really about what constitutes an affair and at what point is a wife being unfaithful to her husband. Laura contemplates all of this including whether or not to go through with the clandestine meeting. Naturally, there are some bumps and/or other circumstances along the way which make both parties think through their plans and their decisions, making sure that it's a conscience act versus one that just falls together easily.An intricately written and directed drama, against the backdrop of trying, fateful times (World War II) which deserves its high rating.

'Brief Encounter' is a film from the initial part of David Lean's career as a filmmaker when he was majorly known for being the most skilled director at interpreting Noel Coward's plays on celluloid. The screenplay of 'Brief Encounter' written by Lean himself along with Ronald Neame and Anthony Havelock-Allan is based on Coward's play 'Still Life'. The film spreads out the play and expands on it. Unlike Lean's more popular works like 'Lawrence of Arabia' or 'The Bridge on the River Kwai', 'Brief Encounter' is a much more contained film with a smaller scope. But for me the film is as special as Lean's more grander works due to its intimate storytelling and mature depiction of an extra-marital affair.I think there are a few hints in the film about how suffocating the uptight nature of British middle/upper class society could be at the time. But to be honest, the social commentary is very nuanced and the major aspect that Lean is interested in is the exploration of the characters, especially Laura. The film is interested in focusing on the struggle that Laura goes through while balancing a sense of guilt along with desire. Most generic films that deal with extra- marital affairs resort a little too much to steamy sexual scenes for depicting the passion between the participants which invariably ends up being nothing but a source of the audience's titillation without saying anything about the characters. 'Brief Encounter' on the other hand is based solely on the characters' inner struggles. David Lean never judges them for their actions. There is a humane sense with which Laura and Alec get treated. These characters know that what they are getting into has no future, but the circumstances and tender nature in which they treat each other makes it impossible for them to resist each other's company.Lean also beautifully shows the difference between the grander scheme of things and the individual problems and struggles. A person can be going through the most traumatic experience, but it might not be of any significance in the bigger picture. This theme is brilliantly depicted in the first scene. We enter the railway station tea stall. We see the ancillary characters in the story talking to each other. Suddenly the camera pans away from them and moves to a table where Laura and Alec are sitting. We don't know them yet. We don't even hear what they are saying to each other, their conversation gets drowned by the other conversations being held in the room. It's only when we enter the psyche of Laura which happens later in the film that we truly get to understand the gravity of that first scene. Lean's direction from a basic technical standpoint has to be admired too along with the way he handles the theme of the story and his actors. He remains nuanced in his way of using the camera. Whenever Lean wants us to know what Laura is thinking, he approaches Laura ever so gently with the camera along with the dimming of the lights in the shot. There is a scene where a sudden change in mood makes the camera tilt to the right, as the tension settles, the camera tilts back to its normal straight position. Lean also does something that I love, he stages one particular scene twice, but from different perspectives. It always impresses me when a director is able to pull this storytelling technique off properly and Lean does so with flying colours.From an acting sense, the film has good performances all round, but the only actor that deserves a special mention is Celia Johnson. She is the one who drives this film forward. She is very subtle, very expressive and brilliantly portrays the struggle of Laura. She makes it impossible for the audience to not feel for Laura. Her voice-over is also brilliant.If I have to nit-pick, I'll say that maybe the voice-over in some scenes could have been more discreetly used. In certain scenes I thought, the emotional effect would have been more powerful if what Laura is thinking wasn't completely told to the audience, but it really is a very minor complaint.I'll end this review by reaffirming my appreciation for 'Brief Encounter'. This is an example of a mature piece of filmmaking where the director fleshes out the central character completely in front of you. Highly recommended.