Year: 1945
Director: David Lean
Country: UK
Language: English
At a café on a railway station, housewife Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson) meets doctor Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard). Although they are both already married, they gradually fall in love with each other. They continue to meet every Thursday in the small cafe, however they know that their love is impossible.
In 1999 The British Film Institute produced their list of 100 Greatest British films in their cinematic history. To no surprise Carol Reed's The Third Man made top place, while Lean's Brief Encounter made runner up. Encounter is the embodiment of a genre that has faded from public mindset; the woman's picture. Tragic melodramas obsessed with the life not lived, the road not traveled and what potentially could be. While modern chick-flicks give women wish fulfillment, they can have anything they want, Lean gives us miles of self denial.
Laura and Alec display a miserable self control that is hard to fathom in any setting other than post-war Britain. It's been labelled the "British Casablanca", I suppose the sacrifice element is similar, but while Rick and Iilsa had the Nazis to contend with, Laura and Alec have the institution of marriage, which is a much smaller threat. Though sex is dealt with indirectly, it is very much the driving force of the film. " "If we control ourselves, and behave like sensible human beings ..." Laura offers, knowing that it is incredibly difficult to show restraint. Both actors have such great onscreen chemistry that it made this subject matter even more scandalous in the 40's.
In conclusion, even 69 years after its theatrical debut Lean's Brief Encounter is a tremendous tearjerker. I've seen most of the Director's astonishing filmography, which includes works like Lawrence of Arabia and Great Expectations, and I feel that this is his greatest accomplishment. See it because films like this aren't made any more. Praise it! 5/5
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