150 Word Review: 'Brief Encounter' (1945)
Hurts so good
A perfect movie. Brief Encounter is a classic of repressed “no, we mustn’t” romances, a lissome, gorgeously shot panic attack about adultery. This is a very British production, directed by David Lean, with a screenplay by the sharply witty chronicler of upper-middle-class England, Noel Coward, based on his play. It was controversial when it came out, and in a way, it still is: Lean and Coward are sympathetic towards our illicit lovers, who share a few stolen kisses over the course of a few weeks before surrendering to the gravity of their loveless but passionless marriages.
The Brits are, famously, emotionally constipated, and both Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard suffer with grace and style, and suffer they do. Brief Encounter does not moralize, however. To be human is to be tempted. Howard’s cheerful doctor is so reckless. Watching Johnson’s tightly wound wife unspool, for a few delirious moments, is tragic.