Barnes & Noble

There are romantic movies, and then there's Brief Encounter. Firmly entrenched in the pantheon of tear-jerkers, director David Lean's impeccable, achingly sad, three-hanky movie explores a life-defining affair of unrequited love. Against the emotion-drenched musical backdrop of Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto, the movie charts the passion unleashed during a chance meeting at a railway café between Laura, an unfulfilled housewife (the stunning Celia Johnson), and Alec (Trevor Howard), a doctor locked in a similarly passionless marriage. Because the film begins at the end and then relates the story in flashback via voice-over, even the most innocent and joyful moments of the relationship seem suffused with the knowledge of what is to come. Lean films this tale -- adapted by Noel Coward from his own short play, Still Life -- with remarkable simplicity and beauty: Trains pull into the station, all smothered in smoke and eerie lighting; close-ups capture Laura's gossipy neighbor's mouth yammering on, oblivious to the fact that Laura is dying inside. Like the film as a whole, the performances by Johnson and Howard are touching and restrained. They remain quietly decent and dignified in the face of despair; few celluloid lovers have ever come across with such subtlety and power.

All Movie Guide

Based on Noël Coward's play "Still Life," Brief Encounter is a romantic, bittersweet drama about two married people who meet by chance in a London railway station and carry on an intense love affair. Sentimental yet down-to-earth and set in pre-World War II England, the film follows British housewife Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson), who is on her way home, but catches a cinder in her eye. By chance, she meets Dr. Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard), who removes it for her. The two talk for a few minutes and strike immediate sparks, but they end up catching different trains. However, both return to the station once a week to meet and, as the film progresses, they grow closer, sharing stories, hopes, and fears about their lives, marriages, and children. One day, when Alec's train is late, both become frantic that they will miss each other. When they finally find each other, they realize that they are in love. But what should be a joyous realization is fraught with tragedy, since both care greatly for their families. Howard and Johnson give flawless performances as two practical, married people who find themselves in a situation in which they know they can never be happy. Don Kaye

Product Details

• UPC: 037429150726
• Source: CRITERION
• Region Code: 1
• Aspect Ratio: Pre-1954 Standard (1.33.1)
• Presentation: B&W, Pan & Scan
• Sound: monaural
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English
• Time: 1:26:00
• Sales Rank: 5,133

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