Actors - Brief Encounter

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	Actors - Brief Encounter

Brief Encounter (1945) is a British film directed by David Lean starring Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard.

The screenplay was written by Noel Coward based on his play "Still Life" (1936), one of a group of ten short plays entitled Tonight at 8:30, designed to be performed in various combinations of three (triple bills) as vehicles for Gertrude Lawrence and Coward himself. All scenes of "Still Life" are set in the refreshment room of a railway station (the fictional Milford Junction).

The film version prominently features the Piano Concerto No. 2 by Sergei Rachmaninoff on the soundtrack. Much of the film version was shot at Carnforth in Lancashire. Noel Coward makes the station announcements in the film.

It shared the 1946 Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1999 it came 2nd in a BFI poll of British films, while in 2004 the magazine Total Film named it the 44th greatest British film of all time. Derek Malcolm included the film in his 2000 column The Century of Films
.

Synopsis

This is the story, told in the first-person, of Laura Jesson, a country housewife. Bored with the security of her husband and family, Laura goes into town once a week for shopping and a matinee picture. On one of her weekly excursions, she accidentally meets Dr. Alec Harvey in the waiting room of the railroad station. Both are early middle-aged, married, and have two children each.

Enjoying one another's company, they continue to meet weekly for coffee in the waiting room of the station while they await their respective trains home. They are soon dismayed to find their innocent and casual relationship quickly developing into love. For a while, they continue to meet furtively in cafes and cinemas, constantly fearing chance meetings with friends. After several meetings, they go to a room belonging to a friend of the doctor's, but their meeting is interrupted by the friend's unexpected return. Realizing that a future together is impossible and wishing not to hurt their families, they agree to part. The doctor is to leave for Africa.

During their final meeting in the train station, while they sit waiting for Alec's train, Dolly Messiter, a talkative friend of Laura's, joins them and is soon chattering away, totally oblivious to the couple's inner misery. As they realize that they have been robbed of the chance for a final goodbye, Alec's train arrives. With Dolly still chattering away, Alec departs with a last look at Laura. As the train is heard pulling away, Laura suddenly dashes out onto the platform. The lights of the passing train flash across her face as she conquers her impulse to commit suicide; she returns home to her family.

Comparison with the play

As is quite usual with films based on stage plays, the film shows most of the places which are only talked about in the play: Dr. Lynn's flat, Laura's home, a cinema, a restaurant, Boots. Additionally, a number of scenes have been added which are not mentioned in the play: a scene on a lake in a rowing boat where Dr. Harvey gets his feet wet; Laura wandering about alone in the dark, sitting down on a park bench and smoking in public; a drive in the country in a borrowed car.

Certain scenes are made less ambiguous and more dramatic in the film:

The "explicit" scene where the two lovers are about to commit adultery is toned down. In the play it is left for the audience to decide whether they actually have sex or not. In the film, Laura has only just arrived at Dr. Lynn's flat when its owner comes home, and she is immediately led out by Dr. Harvey via the fire escape.
When Laura wants to throw herself in front of an express train, the film confirms her intention by means of voice-over narration, but "she fails to take the Karenina
way out and walks back to the buffet" (Frances Gray).

The film uses narrative techniques like frame stories and voice-over: the ending of the story is right at the beginning of the movie, which is then repeated at the end; and there is voice-over with Laura addressing her husband, or rather Laura imagining addressing her husband, in a dream-like state.

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