Opening Up a Treasure: Brief Encounter
The reviews in this series are meant for those who have already seen the films in question.
BRIEF ENCOUNTER
U.K. / Cineguild / 1945 / Black and White / 86 minutes / Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
Brief Encounter was made in Great Britain soon before the war ended. Food rationing and blackouts were taking place. Many were struggling to adjust to this environment.
This film is not about that.
During the film’s earlier 1938 setting, many Britons were apprehensive about Germany’s expansionist policies, specifically as they related to Austria already annexed in March of that year and Hitler’s threats to do the same in parts of Czechoslovakia. In July, gas masks were issued to civilians.
This film isn't about that either.
What it is about are two outwardly nondescript strangers living rather ordinary lives who meet by chance at a railway station's cafe. After a purely unintentional "courtship," they fall deeply in love despite both being in other committed relationships. This coming together of two unique, intelligent and caring souls is spellbinding, in part due to the many sublimely observed, precious details of manners, budding emotions and lovely surroundings. The relationship becomes deeper and deeper almost as if by magic since we are practically unaware of the ever so subtle emotional transformations taking place. By the time we realise how strongly they feel for one another, we're as enchanted with them as they are with each other. As their time together progresses, it's almost as if they're playing a unique kind of board game whereby the only objective is to keep it going as long as possible while minimising the disappointment doing so might bring to others. Their observances of the people and places around them have a fresh and witty vibrancy. Together, they seem to manage a more open, less self-conscious relationship than the ones they have back home but never are these other commitments diminished in the slightest, quite the contrary as we will witness in their heartbreaking final moments together.
This perfect union of souls is reflected in the performances as well. Celia Johnson totally inhabits housewife Laura Jesson leaving the slightest trace of acting absent from her layered, nuanced portrayal. Her performance includes a penetratingly insightful narration informed by Laura's selfless thoughts for others and the guilt expressed so genuinely for those newly found emotions she valiantly tries to cope with. In complete harmony with Johnson is Trevor Howard's Dr. Alec Harvey who characterises to perfection a first class gentleman, someone who will sacrifice for another without hesitation but will never act out of purely sentimental reasons. Both will make mistakes and have regrets allowing the actors to further humanise their parts making them more distinctive and identifiable.
The last components of a perfect alchemy are Director David Lean and Screenwriter Noel Coward. The source material is Coward's one-act play Still Life which reveals itself in some of the overtly theatrical characters at the cafe. * Nevertheless, there's an abundance of intelligence on display. Literary and poetry references are everywhere. The compelling dialogue between our couple and Laura's innermost thoughts conveyed in her narration are subtle but dramatically rich and always perfectly balanced between head and heart, sentiment and reality. Coward's creative genius even extends to the movies his couple chooses between and a trailer they watch together... all fictional. Lean's masterful direction is ever so respectful of Coward's enlightened screenplay: understated, assured but unobtrusive. This is before embarking on his directorial projects of greater scope, for which Lean often attempted to combine romantic elements with more purposeful exploits on a grand scale. Lean's latter made epics would maintain an attention to their historical setting of equal importance to the other components mentioned. Occasionally these films were overall artistic successes such as Lawrence of Arabia and The Bridge on the River Kwai, sometimes not so much, i.e. Doctor Zhivago and Ryan's Daughter. Brief Encounter's touching, poetic simplicity is perhaps Lean's greatest reward both for himself and his audience.
This masterpiece explores the most fundamental emotions of the human heart. While the subject may not address British anxiety due to the war's build up or duration, it does relate to needs of a universal nature and offers profound insights into how one might cope with those conflicted internal feelings. Besides, this film is fundamentally British in another sense. The impossibly difficult choice made at the end of their story that leads to the sad but inevitable separation is committed purely for the sake of others. If this couple hadn't been so influenced by a culture of concern over how others think and feel perhaps they might have run off together. On the other hand, if they weren't British, these two probably wouldn’t have fallen in love in the first place.
* The film's only other potential liability concerns its music. Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 is a beautiful composition but was not, of course, written for this film nor does it therefore benefit from the composer's judicious "spotting." Being rather laid over the film instead, the piece can become an unsubtle distraction especially for those use to hearing its performance in concert repertoire.
A.G.