Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Sigh of Midnight Trains in Empty Stations, 13 Mar 2007
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.
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37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Perhaps the most moving romance ever filmed, 15 Jun 2005
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.
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33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My Favorite Film Ever, 24 Sep 2002
This absolutely delightful film seems to get better every time I see it.
The recent DVD version is especially enjoyable as you can see so many subtle details that were hidden in the shadows of video on a grainy tv monitor.
The acting is superb, the script tight and poignant with not a wasted moment. Every word and gesture have significance. The cinematography is spectacular with exquisite lighting throughout this black and white masterpiece. The very beautiful opening shot of the train tearing through Carnforth station, whistle shrieking, sets the tone perfectly.
Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard will break your heart, as will the soundtrack, with marvelous Eileen Joyce playing Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto.
This is the quintessential Brit film loved by all. David Lean and Noel Coward, a brilliant combination, working together brilliantly at the end of World War II.
"Brief Encounter" is an experience I to which I treat myself frequently. It is always a joy.
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