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Brief Encounter (1945)

Director: David Lean

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From Time Out London

Some films don’t age well, and no doubt David Lean and Noel Coward’s story of two ‘good’ married people, Laura (Celia Johnson) and Alec (Trevor Howard), who accidentally fall into the trap of infidelity but largely manage to handle themselves with straight-backed propriety, had more of an emotional effect in the social climate of post-war Britain. As it appears now, Lean and Coward only scrape the surface of their subject, as if merely to broach the issue of unfaithfulness in the happy suburban home was enough to have most audiences convinced. The film’s handling of physical attraction as Laura and Alec meet accidentally at a railway station and proceed to spend each Thursday afternoon together is a cop-out – a touch on the shoulder here, a snatched kiss there – and the wrench of forbidden and impossible love suggested so pointedly by the Rachmaninov music and by Lean’s imagery (such as Johnson deliberating whether to throw herself onto the railway tracks) is not matched by either the performances or the drama which are jarringly cold (bar some pleasing suave charm from Howard). For a non-hysterical approach, hunt down the DVD of Rohmer’s ‘Love in the Afternoon’ instead.

Author: Dave Calhoun 2007-07-31 12:05:35

Time Out London Issue 1928: August 1-7 2007

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Brief Encounter

Cast & crew

Director: David Lean

Producer: Noël Coward

Cast: Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway, Joyce Carey, Cyril Raymond, Valentine Dyall full cast

Duration: 86 mins

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