Mark Kermode reviews Brief Encounter (1945) | BFI Player

Mark introduces Noël Coward’s tale of a love affair, thrillingly played out with tight British reserve.
Brief Encounter will be screening at BFI Southbank on 10th and 20th August. Buy tickets: whatson.bfi.or...
Watch David Lean's Brief Encounter on BFI Player (UK only): player.bfi.org...
Watch more on the BFI Player: player.bfi.org.uk/
Follow us on Twitter: / bfi
Like us on Facebook: / britishfilminstitute
Follow us on Google+: plus.google.co... #BFIPlayer

[@risk5riskmks93]

Got to see this in the theater this year. What a treat. Particularly the sound, but of course the great lighting. Wow. I’d seen it so many times but only on dvd.

[@jamielove8293]

"The Oscars rarely recognise genuine genius" - Absolutely right, and will probably always be the case.

[@murrayaronson3753]

In 1946 Oscars there were such American masterpieces like It's a Wonderful Life and The Best Years of Our Lives. All three movies are masterpieces asnd all deserved what ever awards came their way.

[@jonathang8263]

I once had the pleasure of meeting Trevor Howard (and his wife, Helen Cherry) when he came back to his old school and, at that time in 1983, the school where I was a pupil. He chatted to us all in the headmaster's garden on a lovely sunny afternoon and was exactly the man you would imagine him to have been. Charming, funny and even as he neared the end of his life with a tremendous presence. I hadn't in those early days of VCR seen Brief Encounter then, but I rented it shortly after meeting him and have loved the film ever since.

[@audiophileman7047]

How fortunate you are to have met Trevor Howard. 👍👍👍

[@mike-lo4rt]

A must see film , cinema at its very best. Enjoy

[@dollparts4918]

I love this movie. It is so beautifully tragic. Thanks for this review :)

[@audiophileman7047]

Is it really tragic? It ends the way it should.

[@MrChaseBlue]

@@audiophileman7047it ends the way it should. But it’s a double-edged sword. And in a way, it’s shatteringly tragic.

[@audiophileman7047]

When someone reaches for something they shouldn't, then it's sad.@@MrChaseBlue

[@Rich6Brew]

Superb use of the Dutch Tilt technique starting at 00.22.

[@MadlyinLovewithJesus-1953]

A great film -- like cannot be found from big motion pictures in the "no absolutes" era of the 21st century. A masterpiece.

[@meandmymouth]

It doesn't get any better !

[@edschober917]

Think of the magnificent, sweeping, beautiful films like Ryan’s Daughter, Bridge on the River Kwai, Dr. Zhivago, and then watch a beautiful, intimate, heartrending movie like a Brief Encounter, (among many others), and it seems nearly impossible not to consider David Lean the greatest director in cinema history. Of course, the unparalleled Cinematography, mostly by Freddy Johnson, contributes to this opinion, but remember the shots were all called by the director, the incomparable David Lean! Certainly no offense to Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, William Wyler or any others but in my humble opinion David Lean’s work will always stand the test of time!

[@MariaLacsamana-ik3in]

I'm enjoying every minute while watching this remarkable movie keep it coming thanks so much 😅😅😅😅😅😅

[@thecinematicmind]

One of the 10 top films I need to see now!

[@DavidN369]

Spot-on analysis of A Film For The Ages.

[@MarlboroughBlenheim1]

It’s really about sacrifice and stability in a changing world. Subverting your own happiness for the benefit of others and for the sanctity of marriage. The chemistry is excellence in this.

[@luciechapello1008]

Observation: Scene when Steven confronts Trevor Howard after they very civilly discuss the fact that a woman did go out the back door then Steven asks for his key back. What righteousness even back then.

[@audiophileman7047]

Superb film, they should all be this good. 👍👍👍👍👍

[@Onmysheet]

Can't wait for the Criterion Blu Ray release in April.

[@sriharsha5036]

What a beautiful movie

[@laminage]

You see The Nestle's Logo which is so cool. In the 1950's they were part of the Burgeoning TV Movement in America. They sponsored a Children's Show with a Lady named Fran who had Two Friends named Kukula and Ollie. Today Nestle is a Multi Billion Dollar Empire. It Sells, Water, Carnation Milk Hot Chocolate, not to mention owning Lean Cuisine & Stouffer's not to mention various Chocolate Bars like Aero and Kit Kat and Girls Aloud did an Advert for it. England was so far ahead of it's time when it came to Coffee Houses. Although we see the burgeoning Coffee Movement in movies like American Gigolo & Xanadu (1980), it really started to take off in Washington, DC which as you know is the Birthplace of Starbucks.

[@nickyoude2694]

I believe a video on the Be Kind Rewind Oscar channel will give you an answer to why Brief Encounter wasn't a major Oscar winner. Best Actress 1947: Olivia De Havilland Fights Back (kzbin.info/www/bejne/nJCrp6aNpN2qebc). There's a whole segment about how the Academy were rewarding sacrificial maternal figures during the 1940s such as Mildred Pierce, Kitty Foyle and Mrs Miniver. Which explains why not only did Celia Johnson not win but also how femme fatale roles like Rita Hayworth in Gilda and Barbara Stanwyk in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers didn't even get nominated (as the narrator puts it, who would remember Rosalind Russell in Sister Kenny when Rita Hayworth did "that" with her hair?). Alongside Celia you had 3 sacrificial maternal roles nominated for Best Actress that year; Olivia De Havilland in To Each His Own as an unwed mother who watches from the sidelines as her son is raised by another family, Jayne Wyman in The Yearling as the mother of a small boy who befriends a baby deer (a hybrid of Old Yeller, Bambi and Kes in your terms) and Rosalind Russell in Sister Kenny as Elizabeth Kenny, an Aussie Nurse who discovers a cure for child paralysis (the biopic of the pack). The other nominee that year was Jennifer Jones in Duel in the Sun as a half- Native American torn between the love of two ranch hands.

[@darrenjohnmole7581]

A classic

[@omeshsingh8091]

Neither Paddington 2 nor Wonder Woman received any nominations at the Academy Awards 2:06

[@averagejoe6617]

Have to disagree with Kermode when he says the Oscar's dont recognize true brilliance, at least in this specific case. The same year Brief Encounter was nominated was the year of Henry V, Its a Wondeful Life, and the eventual winner Best Years of Our Lives, all masterful in their own ways. Brief Encounter will always be nearest and dearest to my heart, however, and we can at least take comfort in the fact that Lean would get his due twice over in the years to come.

[@MrChaseBlue]

Sure, but Brief Encounter tops all and the most provocative of the bunch

[@Quinntheeskimo99]

Help me somebody. Was there not a “sequel” made in the early 1970’s? Called “Staying On”, it starred Johnson and Howard in the same roles. The plot postulated that she had left her husband and gone with Alec to Africa, as per his intention in the film. It was in a contemporary setting, in a fictional African country which had gained independence from the UK. Expats had to decided wether to “stay on” or return to Britain. The couple feared the opprobrium which would await them on return. After all, it was less than thirty years after they had behaved so scandalously. Was I the only person to se this on TV? It was outstanding.

[@rowley555]

I've seen "Staying On" and it is not a sequel but a story completely unrelated to "Brief Encounter." It was set in India and has wonderful performances by both Johnson and Howard.

[@maryblogg4327]

👍💟

[@amahra100]

Why can't the British praise their own achievements without trashing America, particularly our cinema? We don't recognize genius? Hollywood is synonymous with genius. Acting is a tough business and British cinema is not the only genius in town. When you ask people to say their favorite line in Brief Encounter, outside of Britts and Hollywood elites, not many remember. But when you ask the same of Casablanca, even people under thirty will repeat, "Play it again, Sam: "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine: "Here's looking at you kid: and "I think this is the beginning of a wonderful friendship." That my dear friends is the difference between Genius and Classic. I love Brief Encounter; it deserved the Oscar nomination. But it was up against a Classic and classics alway win.

[@JohnSmith47534]

@Ashley Hyne I don't know you, but I love you!

[@lucylou5766]

Harriett Randall Hey Harriet, if you plan to take the moral high ground, at least get your quotes right! Nobody says « play it again Sam » in Casablanca. And the final line is « Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. ». Edit Furthermore, I doubt you could consider Casablanca a showpiece of American movie making, since most of its principal actors were European and it’s Hungarian born director was strongly influenced by German Expressionism.

[@cassandravalasi9514]

People remember the lines of Casablanca because they have listened them to numerous other American movies, and seen parts of the movie, even though they never have seen the original movie. I've never seen any British movie doing the same, nor many people watch British movies. I personaly have watched both movies and I concider them both masterpieces, but I would never have remembered a line, if I havedn't listened it repeatedly in other movies.

[@cassandravalasi9514]

Also "Casablanca" was filmed in 1942 and "Brief Encounter" in 1945 and nominated to the Oscars in 1947, so they were not against each other!

[@connectingthedots100]

Just watched it. I imagined it to be a sweeping love story in one journey on a train. But it was really about adultery and endless self-torturing thoughts. The main characters were a bit too noble for real life imho.

[@annemcleod8505]

Am I totally alone in finding the Trevor Howard character pushy and obnoxious? And her husband is a sweetheart! But then I also find Bogart and Bergman totally, unwatchably, mismatched. Completely implausible.

[@EppyGibbon]

The Trevor Howard character is a little pushy, I agree, though I wouldn't go so far as to suggest he's obnoxious. And her husband does seem like a nice man, but a bit self-absorbed.

[@lucylou5766]

I watched this recently. Beautifully shot and directed by Lean. Interesting portrait of English restraint in a bygone era. However I found the dialogue stilted, and the voice over narration tiresome after a while. It felt too much like a stage play on celluloid to me. Did people really speak in that rapid fire, clipped and overly enunciated manner in real life, I wonder? Better than most movies of the era, but it’s no Casablanca.