Brief Encounter (1945)

Meeting a stranger in a railway station, a woman is tempted to cheat on her husband.

Director:

David Lean

Stars:

Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 3 wins.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Celia Johnson	...	Laura Jesson
Trevor Howard	...	Dr. Alec Harvey
Stanley Holloway	...	Albert Godby
Joyce Carey	...	Myrtle Bagot
Cyril Raymond	...	Fred Jesson
Everley Gregg	...	Dolly Messiter
Marjorie Mars	...	Mary Norton
Margaret Barton	...	Beryl Walters - Tea Room Assistant

Storyline

At a café on a railway station, housewife Laura Jesson meets doctor Alec Harvey. Although they are both already married, they gradually fall in love with each other. They continue to meet every Thursday in the small café, although they know that their love is impossible.

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Plot Keywords:

1940s | love | train | shopping | housewife | 

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Taglines:

A chance meeting between two happily married strangers. Two people who met by accident, and fell in love.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 August 1946 (USA)

Also Known As:

Begegnung

Filming Locations:

D&P Studios, Denham Studios, Denham, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

£170,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cineguild

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During the post-flat scene where Laura is "wandering about" alone, the music playing is the segment of Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto which, ironically, was used many years later by singer/composer Eric Carmen for his pop classic 'All By Myself'.

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Goofs

When Laura buys a brandy for herself late in the film she hand over a single coin which the girl throws into the register without giving change. We later see that she rang up 10d, the price stated earlier in the film for the same drink. There was no 10d coin.

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Quotes

Fred Jesson: [Last word]
[to Laura]
Fred Jesson: Thank you for coming back to me.
[Laura weeps in Fred's arms]

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Connections

Referenced in George and the Dragon: George Meets the Dragon (1966)

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Soundtracks

Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.2.
Written by Sergei Rachmaninoff (uncredited)
Played by Eileen Joyce with The National Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Muir Mathieson

User Reviews

Ignore That First Review. This Is A Classic

The person who wrote the first review of this movie must be either a complete moron or has an acute lack of appreciation for what constitutes great moviemaking.

"Brief Encounter" is the perfect encapsulation of a very specific time in both women's and British history. The immediate post-WW 2 era in the UK was a period that saw Brits struggling with the disppearance of traditional social mores that had endured for over a century and the new world order that came about at the conclusion of the war. (For another, beautifully crafted cinematic example, see Neil Jordan's exquisite movie "The End of the Affair.")

Food rationing was still in place in postwar Britain. Women were having to deal with getting to know their menfolk again, after their years of absence at war. Like their American "Rosie the Riveter" counterparts, British women had enjoyed newfound and unfamiliar independence during wartime, working for the war effort. And, like their US "sisters", they were expected to relinquish those jobs to returning men.

"Brief Encounter" is, in many ways, a metaphor for the struggle that men and women were going through, stuck with having to conform to social expectations while bursting to escape to the greater independence glimpsed fleetingly and pleasurably during the war, when everything and everyone were turned upside down.

Being the work of Noel Coward, that master observer of and commentator on English manners, "Brief Encounter" frames this struggle as a torrid love story bubbling under the surface of British reserve, which demands maintaining appearances at all costs, regardless of the personal pain involved.

This passionate pair, who never even exchange a kiss, are constrained and ultimately kept apart by expectations--of their families, of their social positions, of Great Britain.

When Alec puts his hand on Laura's shoulder at their final, unexpectedly truncated meeting in the station snack bar/waiting room, it's as erotic and far more touching than just about every sex scene you'll see in movies.

The first reviewer completely missed the point and the relevance of this movie in film history and, especially, in British cinema history.