Brief Encounter
In their Classic Movies series the Sky Arts film critics (Ian Nathan, Mel Norman and Steven Armstrong) reviewed Brief Encounter, a Noel Coward and David Lean joint production.
It raises the question as to whether or not a film made in 1945 is dated , a period piece or a timeless classic.
Clearly the reviewers believed it the latter and noted certain future films that it inspired, like The Apartment and The Third Man. Surprisingly Ian Nathan categorised it as ‘Film Noir’ as I alaesys termed it a very English romantic weepie
Having re-watched Brief Encounter yesterday personally I believe it to be more of a period piece
I would look less at future films and more at classic literature for its inspiration.
Leo Tolstoy’s classic novel Anna Karenina is also about a doomed love affaire – and trains and railway stations feature in it strongly – whilst in Madame Bovary (Gustav Flaubert) Emma Bovary is in a dull marriage to Charles and gets drawn into a passionate affaire.
It could be argued that Brief Encounter‘s Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson) and Alex Harvey (Trevor Howard) are more sensible than the Anna Karenina, Count Vronsky and Emma and Charles Bovary and realise the futility of their affaire.
If I had to look for a film that it inspired it would be Luis Bunuel’s Belle de Jour in which Catherine Deneuve awakes from her erotic fantasies and the viewer realises it’s all a dream.
In Brief Encounter, Laura’s worthy but dull husband (played by Cecil Raymond) says in the film’s final line:
“You have been away a long time. I am pleased to have you back …“
The film, largely set in a station café, has a humorous sub-plot with Stanley Holloway playing the comic porter flirting with the cafe’s silly snobbish manageress (Joyce Carey) and an intrusive friend of Laura Jesson.
Celia Johnson, with her translucent face and huge eyes, delivers a magnificent performance but her cut glass diction reflects the primness of the sexual values of the sparse and austere post-war era.
