Review of Brief Encounter (1945) by Adam K — 30 Aug 2014
Practically the only proper romance movie I've seen is Woody Allen's Vicki Christina Barcelona, and it's interesting to compare the two. VCB is vastly more embellished in plot and liberal in tone, and it had a much stronger emotional pull on me. It's a bit harder to buy into the mores of the 1940s, and maybe for that reason or just because of the writing I didn't get much out of this emotionally. It's so overwhelmingly naive in tone and cliche in plot, and if it weren't so well executed I would have found it cloying and unpleasant. As it is, Celia Johnson has enough pathos and reserve to sell the character.
Rachmaninoff's 2nd piano concert is maybe the perfect musical pairing for this movie. Like Brief Encounter, it's ultra-sentimental but pulls it off effortlessly, to great effect. It's a great choice, though it is a bit odd when they reuse the same excerpts at different points in the story.
This review of Brief Encounter (1945) was written by Adam K on 30 Aug 2014.
Brief Encounter has generally received very positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
