FILM (1945) David Lean
UK (86) Cineguild
Emotionally restrained, brimming with anxieties about class and status, BRIEF ENCOUNTER is the classic British love story. Though the formal dialogue, concern for propriety and delightfully clipped accents of make this an extremely old fashioned Romance, in places almost hilariously so, BRIEF ENCOUNTER is no period piece. Adapted from Noel Coward’s one act stage-play Still Life, this film is full of complex emotions that a modern day viewer can readily identify with.
The story is thus. One Thursday, in a train station café on her way home from the afternoon matinee at the cinema, Laura Jesson, an upper middle class housewife in a dull but affectionate marriage, has her monotonous existence disturbed by a chance meeting with an idealistic young doctor, Alec Harvey, who also married. The pair swiftly fall in love, and agree to meet each Thursday to continue their impassioned affair, even though it clearly cannot last. Predictably, all too soon the pair’s lives catch up with them. Their responsibilities to their families (and, more to the point) to their class take hold and proceed to drag them apart.
In the midst of this sophisticated and emotional middle class affair, Albert, the middle-aged station master, courts Myrtle, the station café tea lady, in a largely uncomplicated manner. The charming simplicity of the burgeoning relationship between these two characters provides an important contrast to the complex, often unclear, relationship between Alec and Laura, balancing comedy with tragedy.
What is inspired about BRIEF ENCOUNTER is that the story is not told sequentially. Rather, we begin with the end of Laura and Alec’s relationship, and then turn to investigate what sparked the affair. The narrative is recounted through Laura’s voice-over. It is intended to be confessional, as if she were admitting her infidelity to her husband.
Much of the film’s success and enduring appeal, I believe, stems from Celia Johnson’s magnificent performance as Laura. Not many actresses could find the emotional range required to play the role of a woman that finds her conventional way of life challenged so significantly. Johnson need not even speak to express herself. Her peculiar face- oval shaped with strong cheekbones, a flat chin, pointed wide nose and enormous blinking eyes- is endlessly beguiling, at once gaunt and beautiful, especially when caught in a close-up, under cold and bright studio lights.
What a sad sad tale BRIEF ENCOUNTER is.
Fictional Island 