Brief Encounter (1945)

Director: David Lean
Writers: David Lean, Ronald Neame, Anthony Havelock-Allan.
Stars: Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway.    
Runtime: 86 minutes    

Plot: Meeting a stranger in a railway station, a woman is tempted to cheat on her husband.

Review: An uncommonly good little picture, the British-made "Brief Encounter" is designed to appeal to a group of film-goers who are unimpressed by the "usual movie tripe". It is an intimate drama, limited to the brief and touching romance of a married woman and a married man. That's the story—an ordinary middle-class wife, the mother of two children, meets a doctor one day on a shopping visit. The innocent acquaintance, renewed on successive weeks, suddenly ripens into deep affection by which both are shaken. They then part, the doctor to go away and the wife to return home. The cheerful ignorance of the lady's husband is more accommodating than one would expect but the whole thing has been presented in such a delicate and moving way, with such naturalness in portrayal that those slight discrepancies may be easily allowed. 

Under David Lean's fluid direction, Celia Johnson gives a captivating performance as the emotionally shaken lady. Unadulterated by make-up and quite plainly dressed, she naturally fits the role with her wistful voice and large, sad eyes. Trevor Howard, who has none of the aspects of a cut-out movie star, makes a thoroughly credible partner in this small and pathetic romance. Overall, it is a wonderful movie to watch that portrays an English middle class romantic crisis in a post World War II setting.

Reviewed by Mohaiminul Islam