Rating: 
Summary: My favorite love story
Review: First time I saw this film was in the 60's, I was twelve and home sick from school. I cried for the last 30 minutes of the movie then and I still do now. I fell in love with the actors, the characters they played, the music, and England. And every time I pass a quaint railroad station, I still look for my "Trevor Howard". What a story, what a movie.
Rating:
Summary: All-time great
Review: I always forget what a masterpiece of cinema David Lean's Brief Encounter is, but am instantly reminded when I sit down again to be mesmerized by its spell.
This may be a screen adaptation of stage material, but creaky and theatrical this is certainly not. On the contrary, Noel Coward's drama is transformed into something uniquely cinematic. The story concerns the bittersweet affair of central character Laura Jesson (Johnson) with Dr Alec Harvey (Howard), and it is a story that is told intriguingly through Robert Krasker's inspired lighting and camerawork, Jack Harris's editing and Sergei Rachmaninov's music, taken from the Second Piano Concerto, but which nevertheless could have been written for the film. The main performances wrench our emotions with utter conviction, and Coward's own experience of forbidden love is tragically and poignantly expressed (see critic Richard Dyer's homage to Brief Encounter in the BFI Film Series).
Rating:
Summary: Can't praise it enough
Review: I had seen this gorgeous movie only once before on "Bravo" (here in my country called "Film and Arts", and I thought it was a Masterpiece. This is David Lean at his very, very best.
Two average-human beings faced with being unable to change their lives and fate. Sincerely acted, simply, with excellent, restrained, understated performances by both leads, Celia Johnson (what was of this wonderful actress, after this tremendous performance!) and Trevor Howard (also at his best). You have not to be human, to not feel moved by this story.
I watched the DVD on a Saturday evening, with my parents, and at least, mother fell in love with the movie too. Father couldn't recall that Howard had acted in "The Third Man", and he had only watched the latter the previous weekend!!! Well Dad's like that.
Well, fellow film-buffs, if you haven't seen it, you ought to watch one of the culminations of British and Worldwide (too) Cinematic Art!
Rachmaninoff's haunting "Piano Concerto N° 2" was used at ecellent advantage in this masterpiece!!
Rating:
Summary: A film for grown-ups -- genuinely emotionally overwhelming.
Review: I just read the review of this DVD on dvdmg.com and can only conclude the reviewer is relatively young, and certainly not married -- not for any length of time, anyway. He says, "I could enjoy parts of the film, and I could respect the craftsmanship, but I never could develop any real interest in the storyline or the characters."Oh my goodness, I couldn't disagree more. After intentionally waiting to see "Brief Encounter" for many years, I've finally watched it. I'm a married father in my mid-40's. The incredibly profound affection that Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson express for each other is the most convincing portrayal I have ever seen of two people in love. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan have a long way to go to convey such feelings, so powerfully. Yet the performances are, in true British fashion, reserved. Frankly, I found its emotionalism so effective, it very nearly brought me to tears. Call it a chick flick if you like, but this is a film for every thinking adult who has ever been conflicted over their affections and devotions. I'm looking forward to watching it again -- this time with my wife!
Rating:
Summary: A film for grown-ups -- genuinely emotionally overwhelming.
Review: I just read the review of this DVD on dvdmg.com and can only conclude the reviewer is relatively young, and certainly not married -- not for any length of time, anyway. He says, "I could enjoy parts of the film, and I could respect the craftsmanship, but I never could develop any real interest in the storyline or the characters." Oh my goodness, I couldn't disagree more. After intentionally waiting to see "Brief Encounter" for many years, I've finally watched it. I'm a married father in my mid-40's. The incredibly profound affection that Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson express for each other is the most convincing portrayal I have ever seen of two people in love. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan have a long way to go to convey such feelings, so powerfully. Yet the performances are, in true British fashion, reserved. Frankly, I found its emotionalism so effective, it very nearly brought me to tears. Call it a chick flick if you like, but this is a film for every thinking adult who has ever been conflicted over their affections and devotions. I'm looking forward to watching it again -- this time with my wife!
Rating:
Summary: Phenomenal!
Review: I watched this DVD last night and all I can say is: bravo! Brief Encounter is a superbly crafted film with some of the most convincing performances that I've ever seen. Unlike many older films, Brief Encounter does not feel dated at all. The film's plot, pace, acting and use of narration are wonderfully timeless. The DVD transfer is pristine. It really is a miracle that a film made so long ago can be so perfectly preserved. Hats off to Criterion, David Lean and all of the wonderful actors in Brief Encounter!
Rating: 
Summary: I wish you were dead! No I don't, that's silly.
Review: If I ever taught a class in film, this would be one of the films that I would teach. There were so many moments in this film that I felt that I was watching a modern day piece of cinema. The emotion behind the characters, the stages of their relationship, and even the background that represents their attraction to each other. If anything, I would teach this film as a amazing film of character study. Here we have two characters, both of which we know nothing about, and even one that we know less and less about.
Laura is our narrator, so we see the film through her eyes. We see her daily routine, we see her children, we see her family, we see Laura's life. We never see Alec's life which somehow always left me to question the truth behind him. Celia Johnson does a beautiful job of playing the confused housewife. The woman that is comfortable with the life that she has, but somehow searches for more. She questions her life, wondering if there perhaps may not be something more behind an unexplored door. This door is Alec. She stumbles upon him randomly and opens the door to find that he is just as repressed as she is. Together they fall into each other's arms. In three weeks, meeting only three times, they are in love ... confessing it to each other. You don't see lovers climbing balconies or dying in each others hand. You see unbridled love. You witness the excitement from Laura of meeting someone new, the disappointment when she doesn't get to see him on one of her scheduled Thursdays, you see the shame on her face as she lies to her husband about her where-abouts that day, and you see the realization in her eyes that this romance will never last. They have their own lives, they have forged their own paths, and while they may dream about what life may have been like if the two of them had ever ended up together, they both know that it will never happen.
One of my favorite scenes in this film is when both Laura and Alec are in the train station and they are talking about how their relationship will never work, how they must never see each other again. The train station represents their departure. It is symbolic of their carriage that will take them back to their "real" life. It is almost as if it is the crossroads of their life. In the city they are a happy couple, in the train station (especially in the deli) they must now watch their back, and be weary of who may be watching. Then they board the train and head back to their husband/wife respectively. In this scene, as they are talking about how they can no longer be together, we are taken back to the beginning of their romance when a young couple runs behind them to catch the train. Almost as if we were watching them together again, running ... arm-in-arm to catch the train.
I was impressed with this film and I actually enjoyed it. I think film students in a classroom setting would appreciate it more for the film history value. This is the perfect cinematic example of two star-crossed lovers that can never be together!!
Grade: **** out of *****
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: If you loved Lost in Translation, you'll love this. If you love Sleepless in Seattle and similar modern romance classics, see the movie that inspired those filmmakers. If you like nonlinear movies, like Citizen Kane or Go, you'll love this. You can gauge how special this movie is by imagining how you would feel if the tape ran out unexpectedly in the middle, and you were not able to go on watching. I realised while i was watching that i would have been devastated! Beautiful, compelling film based on the play Still Life by Noel Coward (though it doesn't feel like a filmed stage play)and shot by David Lean (before he decided to make epics - there is a scene in this where he makes a joke about the epic genre which will be of interest to his fans). The best thing about it (and this is saying a lot) is the two lead performances, Trevor Howard and (particularly) Celia Johnson in her crowning role, the only role she is remembered for.
Rating:
Summary: A post-war 'Madame Bovary'.
Review: In 1970, David Lean's career virtually ended with the critical mauling given 'Ryan's Daughter', a bombastic reworking of 'Madame Bovary'. He had made a much more successful, unofficial adaptation of Flaubert's book, via a Noel Coward playlet, a quarter of a century earlier, with his first masterpiece, 'Brief Encounter'. Like Emma Bovary, Laura Jesson chokes in a stultifying middle-class home with an aggravatingly gentle and tolerant (read: indifferent) husband, who escapes by reading books, watching films and, eventually, having an adulterous affair. The first time you see 'Brief Encounter', you are most likely to be struck by its overpowering romantic qualities - in the same way Laura breaks the confines of her identity as wife, housewife and mother by loving another man, so the film's middle-class trappings (the clipped dialogue; the use of Rachmaninoff as an emotional signifier of class and taste) are burst by Lean's near-reckless visual intrusions, his violent editing and use of close-up at moments of extreme passion; the creation of awkwardly painful situations; the use of dark film noir lighting to at once swamp, threaten and ennoble this erring couple. Like Laura (see the emblematic scene where she laughs hysterically the night her son is run over, but probably first realises she's in love and her husband doesn't deserve her) - surface politeness becomes feverish, uncontrollable. This sense doesn't diminish on subsequent viewings - the film IS incredibly moving. But it becomes more noticeable how a critique or commentary is built into the film. It is easy to forget that we only get to see one scene of the affair that can actually be called objective - the opening sequence interrupted by Dolly - and this is characterised by what isn't seen or shown. Everything else is mediated through Laura's point of view, in a long flashback constructed as the confession to her husband she will never utter. We notice that, as a reader and film-goer, how prone to flights of fantasy she is (see the glorious travelogue montage). We see not only how many scenes feature prison-like bars (especially in the living room in which she is thinking about the romance), but how many feature windows, mirrors and screens. These are not just little boxes that confirm the confinement of Laura's life, or visual emblems of her split between duty and desire, but also little screens on which she, perhaps, projects her fantasies. She is often seen constructing stories or moods - putting on the Rachmaninoff before she reminisces; ringing up an acquaintance to cover up a lie. What I suggest is, Lean and Coward ask us to separate what is true about the romance and what is romanticised. It seems to be a crucial split between the mind and body. The liaison is an Ideal, a thing of the mind - though dangerous, it can be contained. But look what happens when sex rears its awkward head. The order imposed on the transgressive affair (how very English that adultery should be train-timetabled!), the formal logic in which the narrative is constructed breaks down. Firstly, Laura's voiceover is for the only time displaced by another, Alex's urging her to come to the flat; the second is her impossible knowledge of Alec's being confronted by his friend after she has run out the back way - she couldn't possibly have seen. This is when the film stops being a fantasy, and becomes truly disruptive and dangerous. The 'problem' is not the fear of adultery per se or social transgression, but a fear of sex itself. Because, 'Brief Encounter' is ultimately, like 'Madame Bovary' for France, a fierce critique of middle-class England, not just the way it chokes the life and imagination out of people, forcing them to replace life with second-hand romantic imagination; but the way the victims are complicit in their own imprisonment, lacking the will to escape or change. This malaise is symbolised in the grit that gets in Laura's eye (Alex, by taking it out, gives her a new way of looking at the world) or the disease-carrying soot Alec hopes to eradicate - the very atmosphere of Britain decays the soul. Maybe 'fierce' is too strong an adjective - Lean is very sympathetic to Laura's agony - but as his subsequent films prove, he was never very interested in staying still. 'Encounter' is so focused on the couple, we forget what a brilliant, funny and detailed portrait the film is of post-war, rationed, suburban England, where emotion, like money, must be strictly rationed.
Rating:
Summary: Lean's Genius and The Stiff Upper Lip
Review: It is almost assuredly no coincidence that "Brief Encounter" is a 1945 film made before the curtain rang down on the world stage with the conclusion of World War Two. This film represents the Britisher David Lean at work, the first part of a phenomenal career divided into the first phase, spent at home as the master filmmaker explored things British, and a nomadic adventure in which Lean lives in hotel rooms and carved out international epics such as "Doctor Zhivago", "The Bridge on the River Kwai" and "Lawrence of Arabia." Prior to "Brief Encounter" Lean had directed "This Happy Breed," the story of a Southwest London family up to the advent of World War Two. The theme emphasized was repeated in "Brief Encounter," the invocation of the British "stiff upper lip" to surmount obstacles in one's path, recognition that all is not ideal in an imperfect world but summoning up determination to meet the human challenges confronting us. This attitude became a hallmark of British determined resistance in the wake of bombs falling during the great conflict known as the Battle of Britain. "Brief Encounter" involves the meeting and subsequent falling in love of two very typical, unremarkable middle class people who are devoted to their spouses and children. Their integrity provides pressures which do not surface with individuals lacking their levels of advanced character. Ultimately, realizing how passionately he loves Celia Johnson, the devoted housewife, the kindly doctor Trevor Howard decides to leave England with his family and join his brother, also a doctor, in South Africa. The pain of destroying his own family relationship along with that of Johnson's compels him to make an idealistic choice. To stay in England, realizing that Johnson is there as well, is too painful to bear, while the strength of passion he holds for her makes it impossible for them to form a platonic association devoid of physical and emotional pressures. The use of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto Number Two in C Minor serves as the perfect backdrop as Johnson ruminates narratively about her love for Howard. One of the most uniquely memorable scenes in film annals occurs when, at a time when Howard would like to say goodbye with proper affection to Johnson at the Milford Junction train station, where so much of the film's action occurs, the opportunity is destroyed with the emergence of a well-intentioned, unceasingly conversational busybody from Johnson's town who announces she will take the next train back home with her. As a result, when Howard's train arrives he is compelled to restrict himself to a properly polite verbal goodbye with an accompanying affectionate tug on the shoulder. The impact of the incident prompts Johnson to rush temporarily toward the train tracks and consider suicide. Another interesting element of the brilliant Noel Coward screenplay is the train station flirtations between two of Britain's foremost character performers. Joyce Carey, who runs the station snack bar, and Stanley Holloway, the local station master, engage in perpetual flirtation. Coward's successful ploy is to add a touch of levity to a story dominated by a profoundly dramatic love affair doomed to end without the level of fulfillment each party sought.
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