288 reviews
The 36 Year Old Celia Johnson
Filmmakers always yearn to make A Simple Love Story, and this was extravagantly praised in its day for being such a film (and itself pats itself on the back for it's understated, thoroughly British 'realism' when the guilty pair have a good laugh at the local pictures at a nonsensical piece of Hollywood hokum called 'Flames of Passion').
The accents sadly make it almost impossible for today's audiences to take seriously British films of the forties, but 'Brief Encounter' remains largely immune to the knee jerk ridicule most of its contemporaries are subject to; and people remain too polite to admit really it's 'just' a beautifully crafted weepie (with superb, sometimes stylised photography by Robert Krasker) which despite its much-vaunted lack of Hollywood schmaltz shamelessly tugs at the heartstrings with its crashing Rachmaninov score (which stays with you long after the film is over) and thoroughly enjoyable as such. (No 'just' about it!)
It functions equally well on whatever other level the viewer wishes it to. Knowing that Noel Coward played the male lead in the original 1936 West End production of his own play adds an obvious gay subtext to its tale of forbidden love; while despite being set before the war (the copyright date on 'Flames of Passion' is 1938) looks thoroughly wartime (especially Celia Johnson's chic, pre-New Look suit) and must have struck a chord with lonely wartime wives tempted to stray while their husbands were away on active service.
Now comes the moment where I must declare my own interest. I find Celia Johnson quite breathtakingly lovely and heartbreakingly moving at the core of the film, she looks terrific in that suit, and I could spend all day just looking into those big, sad, imploring eyes of hers...
The accents sadly make it almost impossible for today's audiences to take seriously British films of the forties, but 'Brief Encounter' remains largely immune to the knee jerk ridicule most of its contemporaries are subject to; and people remain too polite to admit really it's 'just' a beautifully crafted weepie (with superb, sometimes stylised photography by Robert Krasker) which despite its much-vaunted lack of Hollywood schmaltz shamelessly tugs at the heartstrings with its crashing Rachmaninov score (which stays with you long after the film is over) and thoroughly enjoyable as such. (No 'just' about it!)
It functions equally well on whatever other level the viewer wishes it to. Knowing that Noel Coward played the male lead in the original 1936 West End production of his own play adds an obvious gay subtext to its tale of forbidden love; while despite being set before the war (the copyright date on 'Flames of Passion' is 1938) looks thoroughly wartime (especially Celia Johnson's chic, pre-New Look suit) and must have struck a chord with lonely wartime wives tempted to stray while their husbands were away on active service.
Now comes the moment where I must declare my own interest. I find Celia Johnson quite breathtakingly lovely and heartbreakingly moving at the core of the film, she looks terrific in that suit, and I could spend all day just looking into those big, sad, imploring eyes of hers...
- richardchatten
- Dec 15, 2019
- Permalink
75 years later, it's still the most REAL romance ever put to film
It's no use pretending that it hasn't happened because it has
**SPOILERS** Meeting quite by accident at the Milford train station British housewife Laura Jesson, Celi Johnson, got a speck of grit stuck in her eye that fellow passenger Dr. Alec Harvey,Trevor Howard, quickly came to her aid and washed out. Alec then slowly starts to get these strong feeling about the sweet and somewhat shy, as well as married, middle-age woman that in no time at all turns into an uncontrollable, by both Laura as well as Alec, love affair that in the end if not checked my well break up both of their marriage's.
Even though both Alec and Laura are married, not to each other, we only get to see Laura's husband and family in the movie which is shown in a long flashback, that takes up almost the entire film, from only Laura's point of view. After that innocent meeting at the train station the two always end up meeting on a Thursday when Laura travels to Milford to buy groceries and Alec has the afternoon off from work. Alec a doctor at the Milford hospital has a wife and family who we never get to see but sense are very much in love with him. Alec's life starts to take a sudden turn away from them as he starts to slowly fall in love with Laura.
You never once get the impression that Alec and Laura are willing to leave their wife and husband so that they can get married to each other. The two star-struck lovers only want to keep their affair secret and live double-lives but the guilt of the affair consumes Laura. For the first time in her marriage Laura lied to her husband Fred, Cyril Raymond, about her being in love with another man. Even though she admitted it to Fred in an almost whimsical way, that Fred took as a joke, Laura also realized that no matter how much she was in love with Alec, and he with her, in the end it would only lead to nothing but heartbreak for her as well as everyone, Alec together with her and his families, involved.
It was later when Alec got a job at his brothers new hospital in Johannesburg South Africa that both he and Laura could finally break up their affair by the two never having to as much as cross their paths again. Even saying goodbye to each other for the last time was never to happen when the two were interrupted at the train station by Laura's chatter-house friend Dolly Mesitter, Everly Gregg. Dolly's non-stop talking prevented the two from having the last few minutes together with each other but at the same time also prevented Laura from throwing herself on the tracks, by momentarily keeping her mind off the fact that Alec was about to leave her, as Alec's train left the station.
Extremely moving adult drama about two persons who find out only too late in life that they were meant for each other but missed the boat, or train, when it came into the station and have to do with what they have: try to forget they ever met no matter how much sorrow and grief it would bring them. Both Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard were touchingly effective as the star-struck lovers Laura and Alec who knew that their affair was doomed from the start and just had to accept what fate had handed them: try to forget that brief encounter they had one fateful evening in the railroad station outside of Milford.
Even though both Alec and Laura are married, not to each other, we only get to see Laura's husband and family in the movie which is shown in a long flashback, that takes up almost the entire film, from only Laura's point of view. After that innocent meeting at the train station the two always end up meeting on a Thursday when Laura travels to Milford to buy groceries and Alec has the afternoon off from work. Alec a doctor at the Milford hospital has a wife and family who we never get to see but sense are very much in love with him. Alec's life starts to take a sudden turn away from them as he starts to slowly fall in love with Laura.
You never once get the impression that Alec and Laura are willing to leave their wife and husband so that they can get married to each other. The two star-struck lovers only want to keep their affair secret and live double-lives but the guilt of the affair consumes Laura. For the first time in her marriage Laura lied to her husband Fred, Cyril Raymond, about her being in love with another man. Even though she admitted it to Fred in an almost whimsical way, that Fred took as a joke, Laura also realized that no matter how much she was in love with Alec, and he with her, in the end it would only lead to nothing but heartbreak for her as well as everyone, Alec together with her and his families, involved.
It was later when Alec got a job at his brothers new hospital in Johannesburg South Africa that both he and Laura could finally break up their affair by the two never having to as much as cross their paths again. Even saying goodbye to each other for the last time was never to happen when the two were interrupted at the train station by Laura's chatter-house friend Dolly Mesitter, Everly Gregg. Dolly's non-stop talking prevented the two from having the last few minutes together with each other but at the same time also prevented Laura from throwing herself on the tracks, by momentarily keeping her mind off the fact that Alec was about to leave her, as Alec's train left the station.
Extremely moving adult drama about two persons who find out only too late in life that they were meant for each other but missed the boat, or train, when it came into the station and have to do with what they have: try to forget they ever met no matter how much sorrow and grief it would bring them. Both Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard were touchingly effective as the star-struck lovers Laura and Alec who knew that their affair was doomed from the start and just had to accept what fate had handed them: try to forget that brief encounter they had one fateful evening in the railroad station outside of Milford.
Still life
Certain songs, or melodies, associated with films one has seen, stay in our sub conscience forever. This is the case with the Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto for this viewer. Any time we hear it, or parts of the main themes are played, it immediately evokes this romantic film of 1945. It's a tribute to its director, David Lean, that after more than sixty years, it still is one of the most cherished movie experiences for a lot of people that saw it, or that are just getting acquainted with it.
"Brief Encounter" owes it all to one of the best talent in the English speaking world of the last century: Noel Coward. As part of his "Tonight at Eight" theater work, this one act play, "Still Life" was turned by its author and David Lean into what we know as "Brief Encounter", a bittersweet account of two lovers, doomed from the start.
The film works because the exquisite chemistry between its two stars, Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard. Both these actors make Laura Jesson and Alec Harvey come alive and stay with us every time we view this timeless film. The story is not far fetched and is made real by the two stars that elevate it to one of the best films of all times. The movie is done with an impeccable sense of decorum and style, yet it has such a sexy subtext. That was a time when a film didn't have to "bare it all" in order to catch the viewer's imagination. In fact, Laura and Alec let us know, without being specific, about the passion that both feel for one another.
Celia Johnson was not a great beauty. Neither was Trevor Howard the epitome of handsomeness, yet, their scenes together project such a heat, as the one that their characters are feeling at any given moment. The fact the two illicit lovers are played by people one could relate to, is what makes the film resonate the way it does every time we watch it. Of course, we realize this situation had no future from the start, yet, one keeps hoping their love will end well.
The supporting cast is excellent. Stanley Holloway is seen as the station master Albert. Joyce Carey is perfect as the woman in charge of the refreshment area of the station where Laura and Alec spend some of their time together. Cyril Raymond makes Fred Jesson, a man who perhaps understand much more than what he lets know. Everly Gregg is seen as the chattering Dolly Messiter.
"Brief Encounter" is one of the best films directed by David Lean, a man who was able to give the film the right tone and made it the classic that it is.
"Brief Encounter" owes it all to one of the best talent in the English speaking world of the last century: Noel Coward. As part of his "Tonight at Eight" theater work, this one act play, "Still Life" was turned by its author and David Lean into what we know as "Brief Encounter", a bittersweet account of two lovers, doomed from the start.
The film works because the exquisite chemistry between its two stars, Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard. Both these actors make Laura Jesson and Alec Harvey come alive and stay with us every time we view this timeless film. The story is not far fetched and is made real by the two stars that elevate it to one of the best films of all times. The movie is done with an impeccable sense of decorum and style, yet it has such a sexy subtext. That was a time when a film didn't have to "bare it all" in order to catch the viewer's imagination. In fact, Laura and Alec let us know, without being specific, about the passion that both feel for one another.
Celia Johnson was not a great beauty. Neither was Trevor Howard the epitome of handsomeness, yet, their scenes together project such a heat, as the one that their characters are feeling at any given moment. The fact the two illicit lovers are played by people one could relate to, is what makes the film resonate the way it does every time we watch it. Of course, we realize this situation had no future from the start, yet, one keeps hoping their love will end well.
The supporting cast is excellent. Stanley Holloway is seen as the station master Albert. Joyce Carey is perfect as the woman in charge of the refreshment area of the station where Laura and Alec spend some of their time together. Cyril Raymond makes Fred Jesson, a man who perhaps understand much more than what he lets know. Everly Gregg is seen as the chattering Dolly Messiter.
"Brief Encounter" is one of the best films directed by David Lean, a man who was able to give the film the right tone and made it the classic that it is.
Briefly, a great film
There's not a lot to say. Like many classics this film is simply constructed with all the elements in balance so that none stands out. Everything in it contributes something essential; the lighting, the unromantic railway station sets, the minor characters and of course the music, the ultra-romantic Rachmaninov Piano Concerto no 2. The emotional rollercoaster of the illicit affair has seldom been better portrayed. Perhaps it is a little understated for transatlantic tastes but no-one viewing this movie would not appreciate that the English can be as passionate as the rest of us.
Celia Johnson as Laura and Trevor Howard as Alec are perfect together. It being 1945, they do not get to bed that would have ruined the audience's sympathy for them in those rather more censorious times. It's all in their minds but their faces give the game away to each other and to the bystanders. Nothing happens to drag anyone near the awful divorce courts, but you are left wondering whether Celia will ever feel quite the same about her dull, comfortable, patronising and boring husband. As for Alec, he professes he will love her forever but then, he's a man.
Noel Coward produced this film from a short play of his from 1935 (the war and post-war shortages are absent), and his dulcet tones may be recognised in the railway station announcements. David Lean directed, and it is a remarkable collaboration. The action is opened out a little a row on the lake, a drive in the country - but the scenes from the play set entirely in the railway refreshment rooms still remain the centre of the story. The parallel relationship between Albert the station guard (Stanley Holloway), and Myrtle the refreshment room attendant (Joyce Carey), is an interesting counterpoint to the angst-ridden middle class would-be adulterers. Surely Noel old boy you weren't suggesting that the working class handles this sort of thing better? We see things largely from Laura's point of view and perhaps Alec didn't feel quite so guilty, but their consciences are going to make them pay. A gem of a movie.
Celia Johnson as Laura and Trevor Howard as Alec are perfect together. It being 1945, they do not get to bed that would have ruined the audience's sympathy for them in those rather more censorious times. It's all in their minds but their faces give the game away to each other and to the bystanders. Nothing happens to drag anyone near the awful divorce courts, but you are left wondering whether Celia will ever feel quite the same about her dull, comfortable, patronising and boring husband. As for Alec, he professes he will love her forever but then, he's a man.
Noel Coward produced this film from a short play of his from 1935 (the war and post-war shortages are absent), and his dulcet tones may be recognised in the railway station announcements. David Lean directed, and it is a remarkable collaboration. The action is opened out a little a row on the lake, a drive in the country - but the scenes from the play set entirely in the railway refreshment rooms still remain the centre of the story. The parallel relationship between Albert the station guard (Stanley Holloway), and Myrtle the refreshment room attendant (Joyce Carey), is an interesting counterpoint to the angst-ridden middle class would-be adulterers. Surely Noel old boy you weren't suggesting that the working class handles this sort of thing better? We see things largely from Laura's point of view and perhaps Alec didn't feel quite so guilty, but their consciences are going to make them pay. A gem of a movie.
An excellent, charming, moving film.
Have you really never seen Brief Encounter? What have you been doing all these years? You have a treat in store.
I have a great love for British films of the 1940s. There seems to have been a great flowering of creative talent then, and the films of the period look beautiful, and have such wonderful characters in them. David Lean is more famous for his huge Technicolor epics, like Lawrence of Arabia, or A Passage to India, but Brief Encounter is his most moving film. It is shot in atmospheric black and white, and tells the story of two people who fall in love, in mundane little England.
Celia Johnston plays Laura, a middle class woman who lives a happy but predictable life, who meets Dr. Alec Harvey, played by craggy Trevor Howard. There starts a doomed love affair, set to the sweeping romantic sounds of Rachmaninov's 2nd piano concerto. This single piece of music plays throughout the film, and stirs up exactly the right emotions. The film will make you want to own a recording of the music.
Such is the power and influence of this film, that it has been remade a few times, and spoofed on countless occasions. It created the archetype for the romantic farewell on a station platform, with steam hissing from trains, and an orchestra playing in the background. Though this has been copied often, it has never been bettered. The film involves a few scenes on railway platforms, and some of these are mundane, others joyous, or despairing, wretched. The director uses many deft tricks to heighten the emotion all along the way. A simple tilt of the camera, or contrasting mood of another character, serves to add tremendous power to the emotion of the scenes.
Times were different then. People were brasher, accents were stronger, and social attitudes to affairs quite different. The period of the film gives it much of its charm. It does not make it a cold study of a different culture, however. The film is very personal. The character of Laura's husband is hardly seen in the entire film, which means that we identify more with Laura's feelings. We see the affair and next to nothing else.
Celia Johnson brings a great deal to the film. She is so likeable, and so able to express the misery that her new love brings her. Her manner of speaking is quite alien to a modern ear. In the 1940s, it was quite normal to add a Y sound to many words. "Hat" became "hyat". The accents are not forced, though - they come across as quite natural, and very likeable.
This film would not be made this way today. The modern audience would demand younger stars, and nudity. See this film to witness how it was once possible to make films about love without bedroom scenes. Brief Encounter is very much stronger for lack of these. Stoicism and restraint are under-rated traits in modern cinema. Modern directors and writers would do well to remind themselves with this film, that a story can be given tremendous emotional power by techniques which seem to have been lost.
I have a great love for British films of the 1940s. There seems to have been a great flowering of creative talent then, and the films of the period look beautiful, and have such wonderful characters in them. David Lean is more famous for his huge Technicolor epics, like Lawrence of Arabia, or A Passage to India, but Brief Encounter is his most moving film. It is shot in atmospheric black and white, and tells the story of two people who fall in love, in mundane little England.
Celia Johnston plays Laura, a middle class woman who lives a happy but predictable life, who meets Dr. Alec Harvey, played by craggy Trevor Howard. There starts a doomed love affair, set to the sweeping romantic sounds of Rachmaninov's 2nd piano concerto. This single piece of music plays throughout the film, and stirs up exactly the right emotions. The film will make you want to own a recording of the music.
Such is the power and influence of this film, that it has been remade a few times, and spoofed on countless occasions. It created the archetype for the romantic farewell on a station platform, with steam hissing from trains, and an orchestra playing in the background. Though this has been copied often, it has never been bettered. The film involves a few scenes on railway platforms, and some of these are mundane, others joyous, or despairing, wretched. The director uses many deft tricks to heighten the emotion all along the way. A simple tilt of the camera, or contrasting mood of another character, serves to add tremendous power to the emotion of the scenes.
Times were different then. People were brasher, accents were stronger, and social attitudes to affairs quite different. The period of the film gives it much of its charm. It does not make it a cold study of a different culture, however. The film is very personal. The character of Laura's husband is hardly seen in the entire film, which means that we identify more with Laura's feelings. We see the affair and next to nothing else.
Celia Johnson brings a great deal to the film. She is so likeable, and so able to express the misery that her new love brings her. Her manner of speaking is quite alien to a modern ear. In the 1940s, it was quite normal to add a Y sound to many words. "Hat" became "hyat". The accents are not forced, though - they come across as quite natural, and very likeable.
This film would not be made this way today. The modern audience would demand younger stars, and nudity. See this film to witness how it was once possible to make films about love without bedroom scenes. Brief Encounter is very much stronger for lack of these. Stoicism and restraint are under-rated traits in modern cinema. Modern directors and writers would do well to remind themselves with this film, that a story can be given tremendous emotional power by techniques which seem to have been lost.
Yes, an affair, but really a tribute to committed married love
A simple film with complex emotions
- dj_kennett
- Oct 9, 2000
- Permalink
The most famous romantic film of all time?
BRIEF ENCOUNTER is very much a product of its age. It's completely alien to somebody brought up on modern cinema. The costumes, photography, acting and script are all products of a bygone age. Yet it still has a special magic that makes it a timeless classic.
In essence, the film's all about a doomed love affair. The movie works through subtlety, both in the subtlety of the performances and in the subtlety of the actors in the roles. Craggy Trevor Howard - not somebody you'd initially think of as a romantic lead - is fine as the ordinary Joe, but it's Celia Johnson who's the film's real delight, creating a character who comes across as one of the most believable women in film.
It's not all perfect. I found myself disliking Laura in places, mainly because of the neglect of her family (and especially children). But overall, BRIEF ENCOUNTER works. It's a film that gets to you, speaks to anybody who's ever been in love and knows what a cruel emotion it is. The cyclical ending is devastatingly perfect, a fine example of how subtlety wins out over bluntness any day of the week.
In essence, the film's all about a doomed love affair. The movie works through subtlety, both in the subtlety of the performances and in the subtlety of the actors in the roles. Craggy Trevor Howard - not somebody you'd initially think of as a romantic lead - is fine as the ordinary Joe, but it's Celia Johnson who's the film's real delight, creating a character who comes across as one of the most believable women in film.
It's not all perfect. I found myself disliking Laura in places, mainly because of the neglect of her family (and especially children). But overall, BRIEF ENCOUNTER works. It's a film that gets to you, speaks to anybody who's ever been in love and knows what a cruel emotion it is. The cyclical ending is devastatingly perfect, a fine example of how subtlety wins out over bluntness any day of the week.
- Leofwine_draca
- Feb 14, 2012
- Permalink
Celia Johnson terrific
At a railway station café, housewife Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson) is quietly sitting with doctor Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard). They both have spouses and children. She is flustered when a talkative acquaintance runs into them. It's been only a few weeks ago since she met him at the train station. Their friendship turns into longing and finally obsession.
Celia Johnson gives a haunted look that speaks to her internal conflict. That is the central issue of the movie. She cannot walk that final step. One can argue about her reason but there is no denying Celia's performance. The black and white looks beautiful especially the trains and the station. Director David Lean made a great film.
Celia Johnson gives a haunted look that speaks to her internal conflict. That is the central issue of the movie. She cannot walk that final step. One can argue about her reason but there is no denying Celia's performance. The black and white looks beautiful especially the trains and the station. Director David Lean made a great film.
- SnoopyStyle
- Dec 14, 2014
- Permalink
Steam Trains and Rachmaninoff
- JamesHitchcock
- Apr 4, 2012
- Permalink
I never thought I would appreciate Rachmaninov's music until now
I saw this last Christmas, and I was genuinely moved. This movie is so poignant and is a must-see, as it showcases the unique talent of David Lean. Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard as the "ordinary" lovers were perfect together, and Celia Johnson's monologues were so beautifully written, and flawlessly expressed. Also the depiction of the dull husband was very well done. This movie is important to many, because it tells the tale of doomed love, told beautifully here. There were some parts that I thought I was going to cry. Before I saw this movie, I never appreciated Rachmaninov's 2nd piano concerto as much as I do now. The perfect placement of it, was what made the movie what it is today. The music was the best element of this movie, and reminded me of the beautiful Vocalise by the same composer. You will be moved by this! 10/10. Bethany Cox
- TheLittleSongbird
- Feb 21, 2009
- Permalink
"Can you really say goodbye and never see me again?"
- classicsoncall
- Mar 22, 2018
- Permalink
Dated? Obviously, but that's not the reason I don't like it...
Two reasons I don't like this film: The two main characters are two of the most boring people imaginable: frankly, they deserve each other. Secondly, the dialogue is among the most banal I have ever heard. This has little to do with the time it was made. Didn't they have subtlety in 1945? Implied meaning? Good God woman, you don't have to tell us you sat down, we can see it on the screen. I think the direction is actually very good: excellent use of limited settings, some good lighting and camera angles. But the dialogue. Oh God. "I love you, with all my heart and soul", the good doctor says. "I wish I was dead", Laura sensitively replies. I was in audience with my Film colleagues and we just cracked up. Is this kind of dialogue "quaint" or "British" or "typical of the era it came from" or just plain bad? I'll go with the latter. I don't think there's much problem with the plot really, and I like the way it was told. But Celia Johnson was neither attractive (not her fault) or interesting (her fault) in anyway. She always had a self-pitying look on her face, and this was reflected in her dialogue. As someone else said, she didn't seem to care so much for her family, but more about personal risk in having an affair. Her decision is made for her in the end, which left me feeling that she was lumbered with a family that deserved her more than she deserved them. You know she would of carried on seeing the bloke if she could. So, to summarise, poor acting and poor dialogue. They're usually quite important to a film. David Lean's direction was fine, but I really couldn't give a toss about such silly, selfish and dull characters. The thought that this is considered one of the all-time great tearjerkers is enough to draw one from me, that it's considered one of the best British films ever made is downright depressing.
How Can I Describe Perfection.In Two words:Simply Sublime
For me,a film addicted"Brief Encounter" is a polished diamond.It's the most perfect romance:You don't see lovers climbing balconys or dying in each others hand.What you see in "Brief Encounter"is two ordinary people in love.Only two normal people who stumble on one another in a railroad station and discover that they have more things in common,then meets the eye.So they started to see each other once a week,but their love are doomed,because they are both married and have very good lives.Celia Johnson is a sparklling gem as a house wife repressed who finds a man so repressed as she.That leads us to Trevor Howard.I know the reason of Celia's anguish.A normal woman simply could not resist to those eyes and the perfect face of Trevor,who embodies every english man in a simple wave,or just laughing in the theater.David Lean's soberb direction and Noel Coward's perfect story give space to show that you don't need to be Romeo And Juliet to tell that love's a good cause to fight,even when the fight is lost
- vivian_baum_cabral
- May 24, 2003
- Permalink
Brief Encounter
Brief Encounter was written by Noel Coward and directed by David Lean.
The snobbish Coward was gay and Lean had married multiple times during his life. Here was a film made by contrasting personalities.
The movie is all about middle class restraint. It might be to do with the film censorship of the time or not to offend its audience. After all this is a romantic drama about nice people and middle class mores.
Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson) meets Dr Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard) in a cafe at a railway station. She has some grit in her eye and he removes it with his handkerchief.
They then sit and chat to each other. Both are seemingly happily married and have children. When Laura gets up to catch her train, Alec impulsively asks to meet again.
They do meet, have lunch, go to a cinema, walks in the country.
Told in flashback by Laura, her desire and longing for Alec only gets more intense. Enough for them to take risks. A discreet visit to an apartment owned by Alec's friend.
Brief Encounter is a simple movie that is rooted to its time. Lean disguises the simplicity. Laura's and Alec's increasing serious relationship is in contrast with the more comic tone of the station master Albert and the cafe manageress Myrtle. The latter are more working class and flirt rather openly. Laura and Alec try to keep everything discreet.
This is a genteel romantic drama. People talked in clipped tones. It hides a lot of passion underneath and this is highlighted in Laura's narration. There is desperation when their final goodbye is interrupted.
Brief Encounter would not work today. There have been attempts to do something similar. Falling in Love starring Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep had similar themes.
The snobbish Coward was gay and Lean had married multiple times during his life. Here was a film made by contrasting personalities.
The movie is all about middle class restraint. It might be to do with the film censorship of the time or not to offend its audience. After all this is a romantic drama about nice people and middle class mores.
Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson) meets Dr Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard) in a cafe at a railway station. She has some grit in her eye and he removes it with his handkerchief.
They then sit and chat to each other. Both are seemingly happily married and have children. When Laura gets up to catch her train, Alec impulsively asks to meet again.
They do meet, have lunch, go to a cinema, walks in the country.
Told in flashback by Laura, her desire and longing for Alec only gets more intense. Enough for them to take risks. A discreet visit to an apartment owned by Alec's friend.
Brief Encounter is a simple movie that is rooted to its time. Lean disguises the simplicity. Laura's and Alec's increasing serious relationship is in contrast with the more comic tone of the station master Albert and the cafe manageress Myrtle. The latter are more working class and flirt rather openly. Laura and Alec try to keep everything discreet.
This is a genteel romantic drama. People talked in clipped tones. It hides a lot of passion underneath and this is highlighted in Laura's narration. There is desperation when their final goodbye is interrupted.
Brief Encounter would not work today. There have been attempts to do something similar. Falling in Love starring Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep had similar themes.
- Prismark10
- Dec 6, 2020
- Permalink
Fantastic
'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.
- gbill-74877
- May 19, 2018
- Permalink
The Original Doomed Love Affair, Beautifully Restored With a Soaring Johnson
Long before he made his grand widescreen epics, master director David Lean made small, intimate films about normal people who find themselves outside of their comfort zones. His most famous of these early works - and arguably the gold standard by which all ill-fated love stories are compared - is this 86-minute treasure from 1946. It is the rather simple story of a chance meeting between housewife Laura Jesson and Dr. Alec Harvey in the refreshment room of a suburban London train station. The plot starts innocently enough when Alec removes some smut from Laura's eye, but then they inevitable become drawn to each other and fall in love.
Lean employs a flashback technique to tell the story (penned by Noel Coward along with Lean and Anthony Havelock-Allan) and actually begins with the quiet farewell between Laura and Alec. From there, Laura recalls the entire story, narrating in a breathless and at times frantic voice-over. Watching the events unfold in her memory and listening to her narration, we are drawn completely into her mind as Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto floods the soundtrack. Despite their respective marital statuses, the two begin to fall in love and soon enough, romance and even lust (at least in typically stiff upper-lip British form) have shown up on the scene. After a while, they start to meet on a very regular basis and though both know it will never work, they still spend time together.
Leave it to Lean to transcend the tendency to produce a predictably romantic and masochistic wallow and come up with a more complex set of conflicting emotions. Probably because Laura's narration is so honest and involving, this movie resonates far more than a more Baroque "chick flick" like Irving Rapper's "Now, Voyager" or Jean Negulesco's "Humoresque". Granite-jawed Trevor Howard portrays Alec with sympathy and unapologetic yearning, but it's Celia Johnson who galvanizes the film with a multi-layered performance as she makes Laura's desperation palpable but never off-putting. With her saucer eyes and emotionally pinched demeanor, she truly brings a genuine soul to this vulnerable, emotionally closeted woman who is unable to come to terms with her unconsummated affair. Providing just the right amount of comic relief are Joyce Carey as the haughty refreshment room hostess and Stanley Holloway (well before his ne'er-do-well Alfred Doolittle in "My Fair Lady") as the persistent train station attendant who constantly flirts with her.
Criterion has once again done a superb job in bringing this movie to life as the pristine print really brings out Robert Krasker's crisp cinematography. Film historian Bruce Eder provides informative audio commentary on an alternate track and goes in-depth into not only the production but also the careers of Lean, Coward and all the actors with speaking parts. Beyond that, there is the original trailer and an interesting demonstration of the restoration process. If you have seen Claude Lelouch's "A Man and a Woman" (with Anouk Aimée and Jean-Louis Trintignant) or Ulu Grosbard's "Falling in Love" (with Robert DeNiro and Meryl Streep) or Richard Linklater's "Before Sunrise" (with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy) or Sofia Coppola's "Lost in Translation" (with Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson)....you owe yourself to see the original inspiration.
Lean employs a flashback technique to tell the story (penned by Noel Coward along with Lean and Anthony Havelock-Allan) and actually begins with the quiet farewell between Laura and Alec. From there, Laura recalls the entire story, narrating in a breathless and at times frantic voice-over. Watching the events unfold in her memory and listening to her narration, we are drawn completely into her mind as Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto floods the soundtrack. Despite their respective marital statuses, the two begin to fall in love and soon enough, romance and even lust (at least in typically stiff upper-lip British form) have shown up on the scene. After a while, they start to meet on a very regular basis and though both know it will never work, they still spend time together.
Leave it to Lean to transcend the tendency to produce a predictably romantic and masochistic wallow and come up with a more complex set of conflicting emotions. Probably because Laura's narration is so honest and involving, this movie resonates far more than a more Baroque "chick flick" like Irving Rapper's "Now, Voyager" or Jean Negulesco's "Humoresque". Granite-jawed Trevor Howard portrays Alec with sympathy and unapologetic yearning, but it's Celia Johnson who galvanizes the film with a multi-layered performance as she makes Laura's desperation palpable but never off-putting. With her saucer eyes and emotionally pinched demeanor, she truly brings a genuine soul to this vulnerable, emotionally closeted woman who is unable to come to terms with her unconsummated affair. Providing just the right amount of comic relief are Joyce Carey as the haughty refreshment room hostess and Stanley Holloway (well before his ne'er-do-well Alfred Doolittle in "My Fair Lady") as the persistent train station attendant who constantly flirts with her.
Criterion has once again done a superb job in bringing this movie to life as the pristine print really brings out Robert Krasker's crisp cinematography. Film historian Bruce Eder provides informative audio commentary on an alternate track and goes in-depth into not only the production but also the careers of Lean, Coward and all the actors with speaking parts. Beyond that, there is the original trailer and an interesting demonstration of the restoration process. If you have seen Claude Lelouch's "A Man and a Woman" (with Anouk Aimée and Jean-Louis Trintignant) or Ulu Grosbard's "Falling in Love" (with Robert DeNiro and Meryl Streep) or Richard Linklater's "Before Sunrise" (with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy) or Sofia Coppola's "Lost in Translation" (with Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson)....you owe yourself to see the original inspiration.
Simple, Honest, and Unforgettable.
It really pleases me to see the very positive responses here to this gem of a movie. I recently read Kevin Brownlow's epic, detailed biography of David Lean, and I'm less mystified as to how Lean went from intimate character dramas such as this one, and even GREAT EXPECTATIONS and OLIVER TWIST, to the big-screen epics which placed far more emphasis on scenery and very little on character. Lean had great problems with intimacy, and much preferred grandeur (he virtually abandoned his son, and didn't meet one of his grandchildren until she was about 30). I'm not knocking the epics, because I've enjoyed them as well, but at the end of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA one knows about as much about Lawrence as one did about 3-1/2 hours earlier. ..unlike Alec and Laura in this film, whom we know very well after 1-1/2 hours, or Pip and Miss Havisham in EXPECTATIONS, characters who leapt off the screen and endeared themselves to us (it also helped that some really gifted actors & actresses played these roles).
I never tire of BRIEF ENCOUNTER - it's one of the screen's great romances, perhaps because it doesn't quite end "happily ever after". It remains simple, honest, and unforgettable.
I never tire of BRIEF ENCOUNTER - it's one of the screen's great romances, perhaps because it doesn't quite end "happily ever after". It remains simple, honest, and unforgettable.
- Harold_Robbins
- Aug 9, 2004
- Permalink
Moving and intelligent film about a love affair initiated at a railroad station
This is an immortal evergreen classy, an intensely romantic flick concerning a chance meeting at a train station beween a mature and married couple : Trevor Howard is the man , Celia Johnson is the woman, resulting in a sudden but doomed romance . They are two middle-class , middle-aged people become involved in a short romance , as their initial friendship gradually becomes into an intense but bittersweet love that they know has no future.
This is a sensitive and thoughful story of two veteran lonely people married to others . Enjoyable filmmaking results in a memorable , stirring movie for all time . Being well based on Noel Coward's "Still Life" from Tonight at 8:30 and script from Ronald Neame and David Lean himself . Concerning a compassionate look at the innocence of unforeseen, poignant love story . Main actors give very nice interpretation . Celia Johnson is frankly good , as she shows splendidly the agony of her frustrated feelings on her face . And perfect Trevor Howard as the doctor who meets her on his trip to London town . They are deftly supported by a great cast of secondaries , such as : Stanley Holloway , Joyce Carey , Irene Handl , Marjorie Mars, Cryl Raymond , among others .
Adequately and brillianly cinematographed by Robert Krasker, subsequently cameraman in superproductions. Special mention for the excellently photographed scenes on the railway station. And underscored by Rachmaninoff's second Piano Concerto. The motion picture was compellingly directed by David Lean, considered one of the best Brit directors . He made a lot of prestigious and classic movies , such as : "Great expectations, Oliver Twist, Hobson's choice , In which we serve, Summertime , Lawrence of Arabia , The Bridge on the river Kwai , Passage to India , Ryan's Daughter" , among others. Rating : Above average.
This is a sensitive and thoughful story of two veteran lonely people married to others . Enjoyable filmmaking results in a memorable , stirring movie for all time . Being well based on Noel Coward's "Still Life" from Tonight at 8:30 and script from Ronald Neame and David Lean himself . Concerning a compassionate look at the innocence of unforeseen, poignant love story . Main actors give very nice interpretation . Celia Johnson is frankly good , as she shows splendidly the agony of her frustrated feelings on her face . And perfect Trevor Howard as the doctor who meets her on his trip to London town . They are deftly supported by a great cast of secondaries , such as : Stanley Holloway , Joyce Carey , Irene Handl , Marjorie Mars, Cryl Raymond , among others .
Adequately and brillianly cinematographed by Robert Krasker, subsequently cameraman in superproductions. Special mention for the excellently photographed scenes on the railway station. And underscored by Rachmaninoff's second Piano Concerto. The motion picture was compellingly directed by David Lean, considered one of the best Brit directors . He made a lot of prestigious and classic movies , such as : "Great expectations, Oliver Twist, Hobson's choice , In which we serve, Summertime , Lawrence of Arabia , The Bridge on the river Kwai , Passage to India , Ryan's Daughter" , among others. Rating : Above average.
this is a film very close to perfection by this reviewer's lights, and hopefully yours too
Irrevocably putting UK maestro David Lean on the international map of a rising future cinematic titan, continuing his auspicious collaborations with famed playwright Noël Coward, BRIEF ENCOUNTER has surmounted itself at the apogee of film romanticism ever since.
Based on Coward's one-act play, it is a garden-variaty extramarital affair between Laura Jesson (Johnson), a middle-class housewife and Alec Harvey (Howard), a married doctor. The film starts in the refreshment tea room of Milford Junction Station, a recurring place where they part ways after their weekly assignations, which also bookends from their first chance meeting to the ultimate farewell, but Lean cunningly leaves them in the periphery of his frame in the opening introduction, the initial perspective is of a gabby interloper Ms. Dolly Messiter (Gregg), an acquaintance of Laura, with whom she shares the same train route. Ms. Messiter's intrusion noticeably throws the pair for a loop, but Alec manages to retain his courtesy until his train arrives, and leaves Laura in an almost catatonic state, even the obtuse Ms. Messiter can tell there is something amiss about her, only if she would know, she has inconveniently obtruded herself into their last goodbye.
After returning to her suburban residence, the voiceover of a distraught Laura begins to enunciate their weekly encounters from stem to stern, at once mundanely amicable and irresistibly intimate. Hence, the story is exclusively told from Laura's viewpoint, and Celia Johnson's extraordinary performance is nonpareil in its acute caliber and immense empathy, it sweeps all over you like a cataract ever since the very first gaze she projects in a close-up, which is so galvanizing that we are rapt in anticipation of its seething undertow's unfolding, and she pampers us with the full treatment, playing out against a cordial and debonair Trevor Howard, who has his own challenge to live up to Johnson's standard in less ample allotment in terms of screen time and backstory, and leaves a sterling impression as an idealist, upstanding, charming man, makes for an emphatically conflicted dyad with Johnson enmeshed in the moral quagmire, and together they elevate the material onto a situationist slant that entirely shucking off their personal liabilities from homily: it can happen to anyone, and when it happens, no one can afford an easy escape, more pertinently, in Laura's imaginative vignettes, Lean's film rams home that this luxury of living one's dreamed life is an everyday illusion that individuality is practically irrelevant, an inevitable temptation those who encounter must cope with wisely, touch wood!
Plumping for Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto as the film's thematic signifier, Mr. Lean also constructs every shot with fluid nicety and supreme lighting in sharpening the focus on its romantic mythos and the characters' torrid inscape, and cleanses any blemish of vulgarity from the seemingly indiscreet situation, this is a film very close to perfection by this reviewer's lights, and hopefully yours too.
Based on Coward's one-act play, it is a garden-variaty extramarital affair between Laura Jesson (Johnson), a middle-class housewife and Alec Harvey (Howard), a married doctor. The film starts in the refreshment tea room of Milford Junction Station, a recurring place where they part ways after their weekly assignations, which also bookends from their first chance meeting to the ultimate farewell, but Lean cunningly leaves them in the periphery of his frame in the opening introduction, the initial perspective is of a gabby interloper Ms. Dolly Messiter (Gregg), an acquaintance of Laura, with whom she shares the same train route. Ms. Messiter's intrusion noticeably throws the pair for a loop, but Alec manages to retain his courtesy until his train arrives, and leaves Laura in an almost catatonic state, even the obtuse Ms. Messiter can tell there is something amiss about her, only if she would know, she has inconveniently obtruded herself into their last goodbye.
After returning to her suburban residence, the voiceover of a distraught Laura begins to enunciate their weekly encounters from stem to stern, at once mundanely amicable and irresistibly intimate. Hence, the story is exclusively told from Laura's viewpoint, and Celia Johnson's extraordinary performance is nonpareil in its acute caliber and immense empathy, it sweeps all over you like a cataract ever since the very first gaze she projects in a close-up, which is so galvanizing that we are rapt in anticipation of its seething undertow's unfolding, and she pampers us with the full treatment, playing out against a cordial and debonair Trevor Howard, who has his own challenge to live up to Johnson's standard in less ample allotment in terms of screen time and backstory, and leaves a sterling impression as an idealist, upstanding, charming man, makes for an emphatically conflicted dyad with Johnson enmeshed in the moral quagmire, and together they elevate the material onto a situationist slant that entirely shucking off their personal liabilities from homily: it can happen to anyone, and when it happens, no one can afford an easy escape, more pertinently, in Laura's imaginative vignettes, Lean's film rams home that this luxury of living one's dreamed life is an everyday illusion that individuality is practically irrelevant, an inevitable temptation those who encounter must cope with wisely, touch wood!
Plumping for Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto as the film's thematic signifier, Mr. Lean also constructs every shot with fluid nicety and supreme lighting in sharpening the focus on its romantic mythos and the characters' torrid inscape, and cleanses any blemish of vulgarity from the seemingly indiscreet situation, this is a film very close to perfection by this reviewer's lights, and hopefully yours too.
- lasttimeisaw
- Jan 14, 2018
- Permalink
a brief triumph
Closely watched trains.
I found this David Lean version of BRIEF ENCOUNTER to be a simply enchanting and entrancing film. Part of the enjoyment was the style of writing and acting that is purposely theatrical in order for the 1940s British subject matter to be handled in the fairly explicit way that it was. For those who 'don't get it' or find it boring well what can those who do 'get it' say? How sad perhaps that something so lovely and so humane and so complex in its dialogue and beautifully formal in its British tone cannot be enjoyed by a few who demand ..DEMAND.. it suit them in 2009. Hilarious! Maybe the multiplex mind thought BRIEF ENCOUNTER was about colliding underpants, which just might be right for them. CLASH OF THE TIGHT'UNS anyone? Maybe a remake with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore called HERE/NOW might be the right update. This gloriously stuffy and furtive Noel Coward play is transformed in this film to be the black and white smoky British damp equivalent of HUMORESQUE or NOW VOYAGER.. and if you love those films (so easy!) you will love this.
A small tragedy that hasn't aged much
- tapio_hietamaki
- Jun 15, 2013
- Permalink
"Whatever your dream was, it wasn't a very happy one, was it?"
- justapilgrim
- Apr 22, 2017
- Permalink