I recently read Orson Welles commentary on Casablanca. He notes that both Bogart and Bergman were ordinary in the film but together they create something beautiful. Casablanca came out in 1942. It was a dreamy movie. The line "Here's to looking at you kid" ranks high in the fantasies of many young men, including Woody Allen who plays it in Play it again Sam. Three years later a film called Brief Encounter was released in Britain which is often referred to as British Casablanca. I have some reservations against this nomenclature. Although both movies are masterpieces when it comes to dreamy affairs, but I feel Brief Encounter is a richer film. It's no surprise that in a 2010 poll conducted in Britain, this film was voted the best romance of all time. The film alongside dealing with simple unattainable things also puts in a bit social commentary on class in its subplots.
Brief Encounter was adapted by Noel Coward from his own one-act play Still Life. Directed by David Lean, it is the story of an extramarital affair between Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard), a married doctor and Laura (Celia Johnson), a housewife in a "happy marriage" with two kids. The first encounter between the two lovers is surely just an ordinary coincidence. Laura gets a piece of grit in her eye on the platform of Milford junction and Alec being a doctor succesfully takes it out of her eye. Their encounters are random in the coming weeks, till one day Alec joins her for lunch as they meet each other in the same restaurant. They spend a lovely afternoon which marks the start of their brief encounter. In the following weeks, these two adults start dreaming again, they live childish moments of laughter together just to fall madly in love with each other. Somehow both of them know what they are enjoying seems like a dream in a parallel world, they try to avoid the societal norms, only to be cruelly brought down by them. When Alec borrows his friend's apartment and plans to spend a private evening with Laura there, his friend finds out only to potray this beautiful affair in a cheap manner. This incident grounds them, suddenly Laura has to think about decency, and self-respect. Alec knows that this is the beginning of the end. He understands how guilt and societal expectations will shroud Laura's feeling about this relationship although they are in love. The movie is from a time that people thought about family first before ther own happiness, they thought about how society will judge them rather than selfishly reaching for their own happiness.
In the refreshment room of Milford junction, where this relationship started and ended, there also goes on a continuous flirtatious banter between the ticket-checker and the lady and the counter. The difference between Alec and Laura and these two people is a subtle commentary on the boundaries our social status and class differences impose on people.
The movie starts with the last encounter between the lovers, one of the most mature goodbye scenes in cinematic history. Alec leaves for South Africa for a new job and Laura back to her family. Laura goes back home and while sitting infront of her husband narrates the whole story as if she is confessing to her husband in her mind to get rid of her guilt. Celia Johnson gives a performance of a life time in this film. The chemistry between the leas pair is extremely natural. Brief Encounter is a movie about two adults trying to escape into something which both of them know is unattainable from the point they start their dreamy journey. It shows how all adults have a child inside them which wants to reach for the stars, only to be grounded by something called reality.
Yoy can enjoy this mastepiece here.
