- Actors: Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway, Joyce Carey, Cyril Raymond
- Directors: David Lean
- Format: Closed-captioned, DVD-Video, NTSC
- Language English, Italian
- Subtitles: English
- Region: Region 1 (US and Canada DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3 - 1.33:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Classification: NR (Not Rated) (US MPAA rating. See details.)
- Studio: Criterion
- DVD Release Date: 27 Jun 2000
- Run Time: 86 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
- ASIN: 0780023420
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 65,396 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
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Reviews
Amazon.co.uk Review
Expanded from a one-act stage play by Noel Coward, Brief Encounter is without doubt one of 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 friendship becomes romance, but they feel the pressures of convention pulling their relationship apart--but the writing, acting and direction are sublime, turning what might have been just another melodrama into a memorable and heartbreaking story of impossible love. David Lean went on to make much bigger films than this, but few of those epics packed the emotional punch of this picture, set in a mundane world of railway stations, semi-detached houses and inexpensive cafes. Trevor Howard is perfectly cast as Alec, the doctor, but the film belongs above all to Celia Johnson, as the heroine Laura. It's easy to mock her clipped ultra-English accent, but she gives one of the greatest screen performances imaginable, brilliantly evoking how an ordinary life can be turned upside down by unexpected passion. Throw in the superb use of Rachmaninov's swooning Second Piano Concerto, shrewd supporting acting from Cyril Raymond, Joyce Carey and Everley Gregg, and some of the best black-and-white photography of its era, and the result is irresistible. Anyone who isn't besotted with Brief Encounter has either never been in love, or doesn't deserve to be. --Andy Medhurst
Synopsis
Brief Encounter tells the poignant tale of ordinary people caught up in the extraordinary power of love. Based on a Noel Coward play, the film was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Screenplay.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
29 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This is my favorite British film of all time. Brilliant writing, fine acting, ecconomicaly concise production and inspired direction all combine to make a landmark movie and a defining moment in social history.
Celia Johnson is terrific! She is talented and beautiful. More than girlishly pretty, she has the deep resonant beauty of a full grown woman. Her eyes are huge and so expressive, as she copes with the guilt and sordidness of an extra-marital love. She narrates to move the story along in places. Her performance draws you in and holds you. A lesser actress could not have pulled it off so well.
Trevor Howard plays her illicit love. Their screen chemistry is electric. Stanley Holloway and Joyce Carey provide a light sub-plot, which compliments the main story.
The film was released in the Spring of 1945, just as World War 2 was ending in Europe. Whether on purpose or not, the film announced a return to peacetime morality. Speak to an old person who was there, and you will find out that all sorts went on during the war when couples were separated, and there was horrific stress.
The characters fall in love, but their love remains unrequited. Love is allowed, but the heart is not allowed to rule the head. The film is set in an unspecified time of peace with no blackout, no bombsites, and with cakes and chocolate freely available. There is a 'forward to the past' kind of message.
If you've never seen it, you are in for a rare treat. If you haven't seen it for a while, then it is well worth revisiting. My review title is a line from a Noel Coward type song. I thought it fitted since he wrote the screenplay, and the main setting is a railway station.
Celia Johnson is terrific! She is talented and beautiful. More than girlishly pretty, she has the deep resonant beauty of a full grown woman. Her eyes are huge and so expressive, as she copes with the guilt and sordidness of an extra-marital love. She narrates to move the story along in places. Her performance draws you in and holds you. A lesser actress could not have pulled it off so well.
Trevor Howard plays her illicit love. Their screen chemistry is electric. Stanley Holloway and Joyce Carey provide a light sub-plot, which compliments the main story.
The film was released in the Spring of 1945, just as World War 2 was ending in Europe. Whether on purpose or not, the film announced a return to peacetime morality. Speak to an old person who was there, and you will find out that all sorts went on during the war when couples were separated, and there was horrific stress.
The characters fall in love, but their love remains unrequited. Love is allowed, but the heart is not allowed to rule the head. The film is set in an unspecified time of peace with no blackout, no bombsites, and with cakes and chocolate freely available. There is a 'forward to the past' kind of message.
If you've never seen it, you are in for a rare treat. If you haven't seen it for a while, then it is well worth revisiting. My review title is a line from a Noel Coward type song. I thought it fitted since he wrote the screenplay, and the main setting is a railway station.
42 of 45 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
It is easy to see why this film is one of the most known romance films ever made, first of all the tear inducing performances of the British ensemble, second the almost essential black and white noir wartime lighting, and thirdly the music that is now synonymous with the film and romance. For those of you who do not wish to read on the film is a simple tale of a woman torn between loyalty to her husband and an exciting affair. The film uses the great performances to personalise us with the main character and have to make the same decisions she does, while using a looped narrative to bring the story to a conclusion as we interpret the feelings of the woman in the first scene.
David Lean worked with Noel Coward to produce this cinematic masterpiece from the stage to live forever in the great history of British film. The direction is constant and reliable with effective close ups and steady paced editing throughout. The effect of this is that we recognise the feelings of the characters and always feel somehow depressed throughout the film to personalise us with the main character, there is little heart pumping adrenaline in the film. The down beat mood is backed up by the thriller film signifiers of rainy streets, undesirable locations and dark noir lighting. One of the first shots in the film contains chiaroscuro lighting as the camera looks down the station at the incoming train, this shot is masterfully placed at this point as if to say that the outside world is so different to the world within the train station, the world that the main character would love to escape but knows she cannot. Most of the film is shot in the small cafe in the station where the main character played by Celia Johnson first falls in love with Trevor Howard. Celia Johnson steals the show as the main character with her heartwrenchinly sad interpretation of a woman torn between loyalty to her family and an exciting affair associated with the outside world. We are in her shoes as the main character by the constant account from her viewpoint, not a single scene in the film isn't from her perspective or narrated with her voice and in this way we have to make her decisions and feel just as sad as she does. The film does not use a linear narrative as about 10 mins into the film we see the flashback of the events of the past few weeks barely interrupted and continuing to near the end of the film. The film makes a complete loop and we end up back where we started, in the cafe, finally understanding the feelings of the main character, the narrative enigma set out in the first scene. The music in the film is entirely one piece, Rachmaninov's 2nd piano concerto, a piece which I can never listen to without thinking of the film. In fact the sound is positioned so perfectly in the film to suit the moods that particular sections in the piece remind me of exact points in the film, I found this even after seeing the film only once. The music is one of the most perfect examples of a single soundtrack in a film.
I find that one needs to see the film three times in a reasonable period to fully appreciate the use of the camera and the moral struggle of a woman in so much pain but the brilliance of this simple love story will repay a lifetime of viewings as it lives on as one of the best examples of British romance in cinema.
26 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
If you're thinking that Brief Encounter is a tired British austerity movie then think again...... David Lean directs this film with brightness and verve to highlight the heartbreak of infidelity. This is no stuffy lecture on morals from people with plummy accents. Instead it's a fresh and alluring revelation of the greyness and boredom which can impell two people together, against the overiding rules of convention. The cinematography, lighting and recording is superb, especially considering the movie was made in 1945. It is also relaxing to watch a film in black and white and gives the piece class and the grvitas it deserves. Trevor Howard is cast as the Doctor who meets Celia Johnson by chance at a railway station. They accidentally meet again and as their friendship grows there is only one problem; Laura is married, and to someone who gets off on doing the Times crossword of an evening! The rest of the film is an examination of the ethics of carrying on an illicit affair.....but instead of criticising the desire for such a situation David Lean and Noel Coward's script tacitly acknowledge the humaness of that yearning.... So instead of sermonising we're treated to a naturalistic expose of how the affair develops. Brief Encounter isn't snobbish, prudish or patronising, instead it openly cocks a snoot at stuffy officialdom and small minded opprobrium. Years ahead of it's time, it's atmosphere and slice of life character easily pre-date the kitchen sink dramas and bedsit boozeathons of the angry young men era. Brief Encounter is real life as it's lived, full of temptation, fantasy and self-deceit and some kind of attempt by the participants to get it at least partly right.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
ITS TERRIBLAH, TERRIBLAH, AWFULL, DONT Y KNOW.
What a load of fuss about nothing, and that just about sums up this film, for me.
Celia Johnson. Trevor Howard. Stanley Hollaway. Read more
Celia Johnson. Trevor Howard. Stanley Hollaway. Read more
Published 15 days ago by DOGBERRY
Today they'd be lost in their i-gadgetry
This relic is well loved even by those of us who can't stop giggling and taking the micky whenever the DVD gets an outing, and it's guaranteed to get people talking just as readily... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Philoctetes
Truely A Cinema Great
Brief Encounter is most certainly to be and remain to be one of Britain's great cinema films. the acting is so superb and has a very good storyline that keeps you watching right... Read more
Published 9 months ago by John Moore
Superb!
This classic story of Morals is one of the best movies I have ever watched.... I love the simplicity of the film and the dilema she goes through and the moral aspect of it... Read more
Published 15 months ago by A Keats Fan
The Timeless Classic
This is one of those timeless classic film you can watch over and over again. Rachmaninov's second concerto is used most effectively capturing every mood and nuence between the... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Scriabinmahler
Brief Encounter, 1945.
Undoubtedly a classic of its time being way ahead in 1945. The acting and the techniques used are still fantastic and worth the view, but naturally the film is showing its age and... Read more
Published 18 months ago by P. F. Southon
A Noel Coward-David Lean Masterpiece
"Brief Encounter" fully deserves its special place in British cinema. Celia Johnson- with her expressive face and beautiful eyes - gives a brilliant performance as Laura, the... Read more
Published on 28 Jan 2010 by Mario
The worst David Lean film I've seen
I decided to watch this movie on account of being a huge fan of David Lean. I find that his Dickens adaptations have aged incredibly well, but this is not at all the case for the... Read more
Published on 10 April 2009 by Mr. L. J. Taylor
Very much of its time
A beautiful love story between two married people who encounter a chance meeting at a railway station. Read more
Published on 22 Nov 2008 by Norman Cheeseworthy
Brief Encounter - A Classic Love Story
Ceila Johnson (Laura Jesson)and Trevor Howard (Dr Alec Harvey)play two happily married strangers who are thrown together by fate. Read more
Published on 6 Nov 2008 by Flojo Squire
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