'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.
"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.