Stars: Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway, Joyce Carey, Cyril Raymond

Director: David Lean

Summary: David Lean adapts Noel Coward's heartbreaking tale of two ordinary people caught up in the extraordinary power of love. Laura (Celia Johnson) is a seemingly happy, middle-class housewife who meets the equally married physician Alec (Trevor Howard) at a London railway station, and so begins a chaste but passionate affair.

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Expanded from a one-act stage play by Noel Coward, Brief Encounteris without doubt one of the true masterpieces of British film history. The story seems slight--a respectable suburban housewife has a chance meeting with a handsome married doctor, their friendship becomes romance, but they feel the pressures of convention pulling their relationship apart--but the writing, acting and direction are sublime, turning what might have been just another melodrama into a memorable and heartbreaking story of impossible love. David Lean went on to make much bigger films than this, but few of those epics packed the emotional punch of this picture, set in a mundane world of railway stations, semi-detached houses and inexpensive cafes. Trevor Howard is perfectly cast as Alec, the doctor, but the film belongs above all to Celia Johnson, as the heroine Laura. It's easy to mock her clipped ultra-English accent, but she gives one of the greatest screen performances imaginable, brilliantly evoking how an ordinary life can be turned upside down by unexpected passion. Throw in the superb use of Rachmaninov's swooning Second Piano Concerto, shrewd supporting acting from Cyril Raymond, Joyce Carey and Everley Gregg, and some of the best black-and-white photography of its era, and the result is irresistible. Anyone who isn't besotted with Brief Encounterhas either never been in love, or doesn't deserve to be. --Andy Medhurst

Aspect Ratio:	4:3
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Interactive Menus, In Depth Biographies, Collectors Booklet, Stills Gallery, Theatrical Trailer
Year:	1945
Release Date:	February 19, 2001
Runtime:	107 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	37115 01133
Label:	Gold Collection
Keywords:	Encounter, Brief, General, Drama
Genre:	Drama