Production Year: 1945 - Drama - Director: David Lean - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring: Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway, Joyce Carey, Cyril Raymond more
David Lean adapts Noel Coward's heartbreaking tale of two ordinary people caught up in the extraordinary power of love. Laura (Celia Johnson) is a seemingly happy, middle-class... more
the true masterpieces of British film history. The story seems slight--a respectable suburban housewife has a chance meeting with a handsome married doctor, their ...
played by Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson meet and their acquaintance deepens into affection and eventually into love. It is the story of two people thrown together...
Production Year: 1999 - Drama - Director: Dick Maas - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: William Hurt, Jennifer Tilly, Denis Leary, Michael Chiklis, Francesca Brown
This product has not yet been reviewed. Rate it now
Production Year: 1981 - Drama - Director: Franco Zeffirelli - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Brooke Shields, Martin Hewitt, Shirley Knight, Don Murray, Richard Kiley, Penelope Milford, Beatrice Straight
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
A review by Olly_Plimsoll on Brief Encounter (DVD) March 21st, 2005
Author's product rating:
Did you enjoy it?
Liked it
Story
Outstanding
Characters / Performances
Outstanding
Special Effects
Standard
How does it compare to similar films?
Outstanding
Advantages:
Great dialogue, cinematography and acting
Disadvantages:
Can be too quaint to be taken seriously by modern audiences .
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
There are films that a lot of people think they know, but have never really seen. David Lean’s ‘Brief Encounter’ is certainly a good example. Most people can tell you the plot, a doomed romance conducted at a railway station. Others will tell you there’s a bit when the train’s moving off and someone’s running to keep up (there, er, isn’t). Some people can even tell you that Noel Coward wrote it. It’s one of those films like Citizen Kane, where you can feel that the critics have watched it just so that you don’t have to.
I was surprised, then, at how much of a gem it really was. The film opens at the station, where the bulk of the action takes place. A guard hops over the tracks (a more devil may care time) and strolls into the cafe.
Once in there, he begins some cheery banter with the manager. Just as this is becoming irredeemably dull, the camera pulls out to reveal a middle-aged couple, sat at a table looking glum. They instantly become the focus of our attention, although we will not be introduced to them properly for some time.
This is the crux of the whole film. Through a dazzling screenplay and superb cinematography, we are constantly presented with people talking rubbish about trains, the weather and cups of tea. Lean and Coward appear to leave it to the viewer to decide what’s important. We know that something significant is happening with the man’s pat on the shoulder, and as we’re only human we have a pretty good idea what’s going on.
In this film of manners gone mad, where a man and a woman can only disclose their passion in maddeningly tiny increments, how do we really know what’s important and what isn’t? Through sly filmmaker skill, our eye is directed throughout. Variations in lighting levels and careful positioning of objects in front of the camera can draw the audience’s attention without them even realising. It’s a subtle subliminal approach that Lean takes – it just doesn’t happen in major films now, with contemporary film-makers more likely to convey significance through editing and dialogue. Each approach is equally valid really, but Brief Encounter’s method just feels more sophisticated and respectful to the audience, somehow, although in reality it’s hugely manipulative.
The narrative also runs in a massively interesting fashion. We don’t understand exactly what’s happening between this curiously intense couple on the opening scene, and that’s because we’ve arrive halfway through. All the smouldering glances and clipped lines are gradually explained as Laura tries to think how she can explain her relationship with Alec to her husband. Most of the film passes in flashback, gradually making sense of those opening moments, with occasionally shocking results.
The flashback is also introduced in extremely flashy style for 40s cinema, Laura’s living room gradually cross-fades to the railway station as she watches from her couch.
This is a wonderfully made film, I can’t stress this enough. There is the highest attention to all areas of the production and the performances are superb, repressed passion oozing from the two leads.
But there’s a problem, as always. To modern eyes, the film looks like a museum piece. Steam trains, telephones the size of computers and everyone speaks as though they’ve just run out of finishing school. With ancient cars and organ players in the cinema auditorium, it’s clear that we are looking at a different age.
And, really, this wouldn’t normally be a problem. We’re mature, film’s been around for more than 100 years now. But this isn’t just a quaint comedy of manners, Lean and Coward have a MESSAGE to impart.
Yes, the middle classes are coming in for another pounding. While Laura and Alec are being terribly stoic about their doomed affair, still the working classes are enjoying themselves in uncomplicated fashion, as shown by the burgeoning relationship between the station master and the lady who runs the cafe. Laura and Alec feel ever so special as a doomed romance, but really they’re being terribly melodramatic and self-important. The parallel relationship highlights the relativity of moral values, but mostly it pokes fun at the pretension of the two leads, Laura is constantly terrified that her relationship will be exposed, but they’re constantly being spotted by Laura’s friends, who simply don’t care what she’s up to.
Another thing I found interesting was the husband. This isn’t a ‘trapped in a loveless marriage’ scenario. Laura’s husband is constantly depicted as attentive, kind and loving. He may be a bit dull, but so is she. Laura has the financial and personal freedom to do pretty much whatever she likes, and the fact that her two kids are a bit noisy in the evenings hardly disguises the fact she’s an adulterous tramp.
Brief Encounter, for all its occasional quaintness, is a deeply engaging character study as well as a doomed romance. It pokes gentle fun at middle-class obsessions with decorum and discretion, while celebrating the very British habit of articulating the most powerful and passionate emotions through mundane comments about train timetables and the weather. Much more than just another footnote classic in cinema history.
Ah yes, I watched this on DVD, but I have to confess the DVD in question came free with the Mail on Sunday, bundled with the Ipcress File (random or what?). As such there were no special features, but then after all this time, what can you add to a classic film like this? As it's been given away free by papers, however, I'd advise you not to spend much money on this film...
Advantages: Pure classic film Disadvantages: Those accents!!!
BRIEF ENCOUNTER (1945)
DIRECTED BY DAVID LEAN
REVIEW OF THE 2008 ITV DVD
INTRODUCTION
Continuing my ‘Lean Season’ reviews this latest review is about one of David Lean’s earlier films – ‘Brief Encounter’ released in 1945 The film received Oscar nominations for Best Actress, Best Director and Best Screenplay. It won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival. It is at second place in the British Film Institute Top ... ...was the fourth film that David Lean had directed.. As with his first three films, the story was based on a play by Noel Coward. Coward himself worked as a screenwriter and producer on the film.
My geographical claim to fame with this film is that the famous station scene with ‘that’ clock was shot at Carnforth station, Lancashire, which is about 10 miles away from where I live.
I always think of this film as a British ‘Casablanca’, and like ‘Casablanca’ ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Ultimate romantic film Disadvantages: Maybe a little dated but in many ways that's a bonus too
...can't be resolved. Brief Encounter is also a window into a long-lost world where women stayed at home, looked after their husbands and couples didn't divorece, where every railway had a tea-room and class distinctions were much more obvious. The accents are terribly terribly and in many ways their world has vanished But the film's emotions are still contemporary because true love is timeless. Several other factors make this a must-see. The score, ... ...near Lancaster, which has a Brief Encounter museum,,,,The trains the lovers catch together, and the ones they miss, are a motif for the fragility of life, the way chance shapes our lives; and, ultimately, the sadness of saying goodbye. Interestingly, Coward's original story ( on which the film is based) envisaged a similar tale involving two men. In the 1940's, such openness about homosexuality would have beeb unthinkable. Maybe one day they will ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: Romantic, endearing and tear-jerking Disadvantages: Slightly slow at times
...BriefEncounter tells the story of a married GP and a married housewife who fall passionately in love after a chance meeting at a station's tearoom. Their short-lived but breathtaking affair questions the social morals of the period in which it is set.
BriefEncounter, directed by David Lean, is an adaptation of Noël Coward?s script ?still life?. Outstanding performances are given by Celia Johnson (playing Laura, the main character) and Trevor Howard (playing Dr. Alec Harvey, the other main character).
There are little special effects but this adds to the emotion and real-life feel of the film The music of Rachmaninoff is used throughout this film too.
The only disadvantage I found was that the on screen action felt a little slow at times but the ending more than made up for this.
When watching BriefEncounter I was surprised at how...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful
...Aliens is one of the greatest sequels of all time. My feelings on the film are in much greater detail are available in my review of the movie itself. However this review is based more on the content of the DVD and its features. This is a single disc special edition version.
Brief Story Outline
57 years after her first encounter with the alien infested planet ( LV-426 ) Ripley returns with a force of marines to investigate a colony now located there. It soon becomes apparent the alien menance is more than they bargined for.
This movie is largely regarded as one of the few example were a sequel is worthy of its predeccessor. Somehow Cameron was able to make a great horror movie into a great action movie whilst holding onto the feel of the original. Its a remarkable feat indeed given the impact of "Alien." The movies cast is...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Plot: Though he might be best remembered for sweeping epics such as DOCTOR ZHIVAGO and LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, renowned British director David Lean began his film career with small-scale character studies based on the plays of Noel Coward. Lean's fourth film, BRIEF ENCOUNTER--which was also his fourth and final collaboration with Coward--adapts the playwright's heartbreaking tale of two ordinary people caught up in the extraordinary power of love.
Video Category: Feature Film
Country Of Origin: United Kingdom
Release details
DVD Region: DVD
Studio(s): ITV DVD; CINRAM LOGISTICS
Release date: 19/02/2001, 14/09/1998
No of Discs: 1
Catalogue No: 37115 01133, 37115 00023
Barcode: 5037115011336, 5037115000231
DVD Description
David Lean adapts Noel Coward's heartbreaking tale of two ordinary people caught up in the extraordinary power of love. Laura (Celia Johnson) is a seemingly happy, middle-class housewife who meets the equally married physician Alec (Trevor Howard) at a London railway station, and so begins a chaste but passionate affair.
Languages
Main Language: English
Subtitle Language: None
Hearing Impaired Language: English
Technical information
Special Features: Interactive Menus, In Depth Biographies, Collectors Booklet, Stills Gallery, Theatrical Trailer, Interactive Menu, Biographies, Scene Access, Restored version
Aspect Ratio: 4:3, 4:3 Full Frame
Sound: Dolby Digital Mono, Mono, Dolby Digital
Dubbing Sound: Dolby Digital Mono English, Mono English
Professional reviews
Review: "...The most memorable treatment of extramarital romance in movie history..." -- Rating: A- (Entertainment Weekly, p.67, 14/07/1995)
Ciao
Listed on Ciao since : 21/03/2005
Compare Brief Encounter (DVD) to other similar Drama
![Brief Encounter [DVD] [1945]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78526935.jpg)
![Brief Encounter [DVD] [1945]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/70055266.jpg)
![Brief Encounter [Restored]-DVD](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/100743651.jpg)
![Classic Films Triple - Rebecca/Brief Encounter/Mansfield Park [DVD]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/81498543.jpg)
This product has not yet been reviewed. 
18.06.2009
08.07.2007
09.01.2005
