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Brief Encounter (1945)

I just watched Brief Encounter for the first time ever. Wow. What a magnificent piece of cinema. Brief Encounter is a film that is about the journey. It sticks with you long after you have watched it.

The film follows a married woman, Laura, as she slowly falls in love with a married man, Alec, after a brief encounter in a train station.

Directed by David Lean

Written by Noel Coward

Piano Concerto No. 2 by Sergei Rachmaninoff

Starring Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard

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by Anonymousreply 45June 8, 2023 9:45 AM

Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 was nicknamed "Brief Encounter" because of this film

by Anonymousreply 1December 11, 2022 1:40 AM

You may find this thread of interest.

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by Anonymousreply 2December 11, 2022 2:13 AM

Great movie. Also the name of a fab London gay bar back in the day that is no longer there

by Anonymousreply 3December 11, 2022 2:26 AM

Is there a place to stream this, or should I just buy it? Totally up my alley.

by Anonymousreply 4December 11, 2022 2:29 AM

this film would seem to be the inspiration for Falling in Love an 80s Brief Encounter: trivial and vacuous

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by Anonymousreply 5December 11, 2022 2:36 AM

R4 HBO Max

by Anonymousreply 6December 11, 2022 3:34 AM

R2 That thread is old and did not appear in my search.

by Anonymousreply 7December 11, 2022 3:34 AM

Trevor Howard was hot

by Anonymousreply 8December 11, 2022 4:45 AM

It's available to buy or stream on Amazon, r4. It's part of the Criterion Collection, if that's your kind of thing.

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by Anonymousreply 9December 11, 2022 8:32 AM

Love the ending- though totally unrealistic. A great piece of storytelling.

by Anonymousreply 10December 11, 2022 8:42 AM

R10 yeah. She was probably his beard anyway

by Anonymousreply 11December 11, 2022 3:09 PM

Gorgeous film!

by Anonymousreply 12December 13, 2022 4:58 PM

Gee the official trailer doesn't tell us who wrote it. Could it have been Kaufman and Hart, Neil Simon or Bernard Slade?

by Anonymousreply 13December 13, 2022 5:11 PM

It was mentioned here that Sophia Loren and Richard Burton did a television remake of this in the seventies…don’t think they did a good job.

by Anonymousreply 14December 13, 2022 5:32 PM

Can't watch it without thinking of this Nichols and May sketch.

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by Anonymousreply 15December 13, 2022 5:39 PM

I prefer Brief Encounters (1992.) Jeff Dillon was so hot

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by Anonymousreply 16December 13, 2022 6:45 PM

Nowadays, it's despised in the UK. The smug, all-white, middle-class suburban setting, the ridiculous Home Counties "ex-cents", the condescending portrayal of the working class.

No film's reputation has sunk as fast as this one. And Lean's is sinking faster by the year.

by Anonymousreply 17December 13, 2022 6:59 PM

I’m in the uk and have heard nothing but praise for this film

by Anonymousreply 18December 13, 2022 7:06 PM

Love this movie but Coward's condescension is hard to miss, though it's really no worse than what you see in many other British films of that era.

Howard and Johnson were perfectly matched as actors.

The remake with Burton and Loren is unwatchable - they're both phoning it in. Never seen Falling In Love, and have no real interest in doing so.

by Anonymousreply 19December 13, 2022 7:16 PM

It's a bag of bullshit that this film now has a bad reputation in the UK; unless one is counting the erroneous opinion of self hating middle class "leftists" and similarly self hating Black middle, working ans underclass "leftists" who really do not give a fuck about equality for Black people as much as knocking a whitey off their perch so as to take their place in the "supremacist" greasy totem pole. As a Black person, I have witnessed how useless both of these groups have been for any group on whose behalf they claim to advocate, but they are very good at getting their niche opinions brandished as "general", whilst taking that capitalist money.

Fuck 'em. And I say that as somebody who has always balked a little at Trevor Howard's greasy countenance, as great an actor as he was.

by Anonymousreply 20December 13, 2022 7:17 PM

I saw the movie twice in one week at FF and found it a heart breaking jewel. I missed the condescension by light years. Also it's hardly a middle class setting. Middle class people would kill for such surroundings.

by Anonymousreply 21December 13, 2022 10:57 PM

The OP needs to check the Datalounge Index and Google to stop wasting space with all these duplicate threads.

by Anonymousreply 22March 21, 2023 7:59 AM

It's the general theme of a love forever lost and not through death that gets me.

I do, however, like the denouement here, where the husband shows his sympathy (essentially his forgiveness) and thus his knowledge---all along. And we understand then that he is her true, and truest, love; and that she will perhaps come to know it, too.

My reading, anyway.

by Anonymousreply 23March 21, 2023 8:13 AM

Hardly, r5. You must have forgotten the ending to "Falling in Love."

by Anonymousreply 24March 21, 2023 8:19 AM

Hey retardino at R17, I don't know whether you are trolling or if you are just an idiot, but almost all classic cinematography is all white, except Gone with the wind.

by Anonymousreply 25March 21, 2023 8:20 AM

OP Your good taste is showing.

Such a great film and holds up to multiple viewings I'm happy to report.

by Anonymousreply 26March 21, 2023 8:22 AM

[quote] Howard and Johnson were perfectly matched as actors.

Also as motel and 24-hour diner.

by Anonymousreply 27March 21, 2023 8:39 AM

Excellent film. As far as " the condescending portrayal of the working class" the one time the two principals sneer at another person they think below themselves ( the lady musician ) they almost immediately are shown as foolish to not have recognized her talent.

The toffs get taught a lesson.

by Anonymousreply 28March 21, 2023 10:02 AM

There's a new big biography of Coward by Oliver Soden coming out now that I'm looking forward to reading.

"Masquerade: the Lives of Noel Coward."

by Anonymousreply 29March 21, 2023 12:24 PM

[quote] "Masquerade: the Lives of Noel Coward."

His blurb seems well-written, sober and well-balanced. And it doesn't claim any new or shocking revelations.

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by Anonymousreply 30March 21, 2023 12:30 PM

[quote] No film's reputation has sunk as fast as this one. And Lean's is sinking faster by the year.

Ahem…

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by Anonymousreply 31March 21, 2023 12:35 PM

I love this film. Could make a great double bill with An Affair to Remember

by Anonymousreply 32March 21, 2023 12:36 PM

Also lean’s Summertime

by Anonymousreply 33March 21, 2023 12:36 PM

Available on YouTube.

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by Anonymousreply 34March 21, 2023 12:37 PM

R17 Stop talking crap, this piece was from just a few years ago, and it still applies today.

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by Anonymousreply 35March 21, 2023 3:30 PM

Great film. Beautifully photographed and acted.

by Anonymousreply 36March 21, 2023 3:37 PM

[quote] The film follows a married woman, Laura, as she slowly falls in love with a married man

I thought the story occurs over a two or three Thursdays on her weekly visits to that nearby town every Thursday for shopping and a matinée movie.

by Anonymousreply 37March 21, 2023 8:24 PM

[quote] Gee the official trailer doesn't tell us who wrote it

R13 That was the official trailer for the re-release.

The ownership and copyright for the film has changed many hands. Most English films are now co-productions with TV companies and French companies Pathe and Canal+.

by Anonymousreply 38March 21, 2023 9:04 PM

This first movie of the Encounters trilogy was riveting. But by the third movie they had completely lost the plot.

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by Anonymousreply 39March 21, 2023 10:13 PM

I always get Trevor mixed up with Peter Finch.

by Anonymousreply 40March 27, 2023 12:46 AM

They often played similar roles.

Intellectual and damaged men abused by foolish women.

Peter Finch's career went from bad to good.

Trevor Howard's career went from good to bad.

by Anonymousreply 41April 5, 2023 1:53 AM

[Quote] Hardly, [R5]. You must have forgotten the ending to "Falling in Love."

Actually, mostly R24

At heart, 'Falling in Love,' which opens today at the Tower East and other theaters, is an American 'Brief Encounter' that goes on too long. It's about two attractive Westchester commuters, each happily married to someone else, who meet, fall in love and then don't know what to do about it. - NY Times

by Anonymousreply 42May 30, 2023 2:05 AM

Rubbish story. She’s bored with a husband of a few years who adores and cherishes her. They have children. He’s not at all charming and witty like the wannabe Leslie Howard creative type she meets in a shabby and cheap cafe where they get to bond for like 30 min. on a weekly (?) basis. Cue up the music as they sip their tea and stare into each other’s eyes.

Like adolescents they “fall in love” with love —and most importantly, lust, pretending it is so much more. Soul mates. Barf. Cue up the music.

She’s actually tempted to ditch the trusting husband and the children for passionate fucks at his place and embark on an affair but no, she nobly resists. Cue up the music. Again. Tragedy! Cruel fate!

The husband ironically is the only one who understands true love as the poster above pointed out. He never chides her, never makes her feel any less than cherished. He knew all the time the bitch was being evasive and emotionally unfaithful to him. If he had been a shit husband, abusing her, etc. it would have made more sense about that infatuation.

Overblown nonsense but yes, it was photographed really well. I enjoyed watching it for that alone. Post-war English movies are a favorite genre of mine.

by Anonymousreply 43May 30, 2023 3:46 AM

So you liked it!

by Anonymousreply 44May 30, 2023 10:44 PM

[Quote] Always, always to the end of my days.

Beautifully acted, this is one of my favourite sequences from any film.

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by Anonymousreply 45June 8, 2023 9:45 AM
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