Review of Brief Encounter (1945) by Matthew B — 06 Jun 2008
The greatest cinematic romance of all time? One will not find Rhett Butler embracing a swooning Scarlett O'Hara against the backdrop of a besieged Atlanta; there is little Romance to be found here.
What makes David Lynch and Noel Coward's 1945 masterpiece a truly heartrending drama is the normalcy of the personae involved. These are not creatures of the silver screen, and the honesty and dignity with which Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard interact and fashion the intense but delicate passion between Laura Jesson and Alec Harvey is where the crux of the film so beautifully lies.
The almost indescribable aura of Sergei Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2, with its initial movement swelling into a tempest from an opening vesper from the lead instrument, its mellifluous central passage, and its overpowering finale is used to beautiful effect.
All the passions of life seem to swell within the boundaries of the soundtrack and the tightly constructed screenplay. What is, perhaps, most amazing, is that Lean, who would later fashion some of the most sprawling and panoramic cinematic epics of all time - Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago - seems so at home here with what one could dismiss as a trivial domestic indiscretion rendered so elegantly and with such cinematic grace.
This review of Brief Encounter (1945) was written by Matthew B on 06 Jun 2008.
Brief Encounter has generally received very positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
