Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #469 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-02-19
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Black & White, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 107 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Expanded from a one-act stage play by Noel Coward, Brief Encounter is without doubt one of the true masterpieces of British film history. The story seems slight--a respectable suburban housewife has a chance meeting with a handsome married doctor, their friendship becomes romance, but they feel the pressures of convention pulling their relationship apart--but the writing, acting and direction are sublime, turning what might have been just another melodrama into a memorable and heartbreaking story of impossible love. David Lean went on to make much bigger films than this, but few of those epics packed the emotional punch of this picture, set in a mundane world of railway stations, semi-detached houses and inexpensive cafes. Trevor Howard is perfectly cast as Alec, the doctor, but the film belongs above all to Celia Johnson, as the heroine Laura. It's easy to mock her clipped ultra-English accent, but she gives one of the greatest screen performances imaginable, brilliantly evoking how an ordinary life can be turned upside down by unexpected passion. Throw in the superb use of Rachmaninov's swooning Second Piano Concerto, shrewd supporting acting from Cyril Raymond, Joyce Carey and Everley Gregg, and some of the best black-and-white photography of its era, and the result is irresistible. Anyone who isn't besotted with Brief Encounter has either never been in love, or doesn't deserve to be. --Andy Medhurst

Synopsis

Brief Encounter tells the poignant tale of ordinary people caught up in the extraordinary power of love. Based on a Noel Coward play, the film was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Screenplay.

Customer Reviews

You get it or you don't . . .
. . . and I didn't. Yes, I know, it gets all the plaudits, and continually features in favourite film lists, but my wife and I found it exceedingly tedious, and the acting both over-the-top and wooden (if you can combine the two). By OTT, I mean gushing and melodramatic. By wooden, I mean unconvincing and uninspired. We squirmed. The story is slight, but I know that's not the point. But, when it is so slight, you need everything else in place and for me - who has admired Trevor Howard in any things - it just didn't hang together. Sorry to be so frightfully stuffy, and all that, but it's an absolute stinker of a film.

Honour, duty, love
This is certainly an interesting view of the past. Amazing accents, strange attitudes to honour and duty, smouldering passion and eccentric approaches to hygiene (dropped some cakes on the floor? pick them up and sell them!). The filming is great and the acting, though patchy at times, is generally very believable. Only the extensive voice-over and inevitable lengthy shots of a thoughtful Celia got in the way of my enjoyment. A worthy classic!

By the way, the reported length is wrong - the main feature is just over 82 minutes, not 107.

One of the greatest movies of all time!

Certainly one of the greatest movies ever made! 'Brief Encounter' is the story of two people - a man and a woman who fall in love after a chance meeting. Both happily married with children, and at a time when it would be difficult for anyone from a later generation to even begin to understand the complications this would involve back then, and as a consequence, the story could not work today. 'I wish I could die...if only I could die...' are the famous words uttered by Celia Johnson's character Laura, as she faces the prospect of the rest of her life without her lover...

Full of dramatic and golden scenes; one of the most dramatic being very early on in the picture when Laura Jesson (Johnson) is sitting talking to her husband about mundane things, and recalls in her mind the whistle blow of the train as she relives the moment of her having attempted to throw herself beneath it... This moment is very cleverly done to compare the stark realties of every day life with something so horrendous...

Some of the most beautiful scenes in cinematic history here, as Celia Johnson gives an award-winning performance with lots of wonderful close ups and much over-dubbed dialogue. Celia Johnson is quite beautiful, and Trevor Howard - though very ordinary looking, is still very attractive, and is so gentle and kind, one can't help but understand how 'Laura' was to fall in love with him so quickly. All this is backed by the very dramatic and romantic score by Rackmaninoff - a well-chosen piece.

British cinema at its best!

N.B. Includes a marvellous and interesting documentary about the making of the film.