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AIBU?

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Brief Encounter- the film

234 replies

Orangesandlemons77 · 19/09/2025 11:25

We watched this film on TV last night. DH confided in me he used to watch it years ago, over and over and had been in tears over it.

To be honest I didn't really like it. A bit boring. All about an emotional affair between two random people in the 1940s who meet in a train station and go to the pictures etc despite having husbands / wives and children at home.

It just went on and on and then finishes with them saying goodbye and her crying in the arms of her husband who she has been lying to throughout.

AIBU?

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CrossPurposes · 27/09/2025 17:57

3luckystars · 27/09/2025 09:44

I watched Brief Encounter yesterday, I’m watching several other old movies today. Thanks so much for this great thread.

Next I have : Now Voyager
then
High Society
How to Marry a millionaire
Sunset Boulevard
Ninotchka

If you are going to watch How to Marry a Millionaire I have to recommend Gentlemen Prefer Blondes from the same year (and it's on iPlayer).

CoffeeCantata · 27/09/2025 16:49

Ice Cold in Alex!!

Absolutely superb. So many cliff-hanger moments, and a superb cast of 4 main characters too. Only quibble: Anthony Quayle’s shorts are ridiculously short for the period.

BMW6 · 27/09/2025 16:16

3luckystars · 27/09/2025 09:44

I watched Brief Encounter yesterday, I’m watching several other old movies today. Thanks so much for this great thread.

Next I have : Now Voyager
then
High Society
How to Marry a millionaire
Sunset Boulevard
Ninotchka

May I recommend Hobsons Choice - fantastic film starring Charles Laughton and John Mills, (also a very young Penelope Scales) wonderful story and superb acting.

Nannyfannybanny · 27/09/2025 09:52

WestwardHo1, I agree with you..I'm in my 70s, love the old black and white films. People say "of it's time", folk talk nowadays about emotional affairs. Most of today's films are full of sex and nudity.. Ice Cold in Alex, can't tell you how often I have seen them. Waterloo Bridge,so sad!

3luckystars · 27/09/2025 09:44

I watched Brief Encounter yesterday, I’m watching several other old movies today. Thanks so much for this great thread.

Next I have : Now Voyager
then
High Society
How to Marry a millionaire
Sunset Boulevard
Ninotchka

NewspaperTaxis · 26/09/2025 17:42

Irene Handle has an early role as the cinema organist in BE.

However, she wouldn't be a Pointless answer as she's uncredited!

MaturingCheeseball · 24/09/2025 12:46

KHAC has best karma ending ever.

CoffeeCantata · 22/09/2025 16:24

BrisPerm · 20/09/2025 23:31

Never seen it but it sounds dull as fuck 😂 I doubt I’d last 15 minutes into it

We’re all different. I fall asleep in action films and can never get into Netflix blockbusters.

CoffeeCantata · 22/09/2025 16:22

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 21/09/2025 09:56

Crikey. I'd have been avoiding her thereafter. There are some others on this thread putting themselves in a similar position. (I'm sure they're devastated!)

Public Service Announcement: Kind Hearts and Coronets is on Film4 at 11am today. One of my all-time favourite films, even higher on the list than Brief Encounter, and slugging it out with The Third Man, The Maltese Falcon, Withnail and I and Some Like it Hot for the runner up position to The Godfather. Anyone who thinks Brief Encounter is boring, dated and immoral had probably best give this a swerve.

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KHAC - my absolute favourite film. The dialogue is wittier than Oscar Wilde - honestly! Alec G is superb but so is the supremely elegant Denis Price. And th3 two women are brilliantly payed by Valerie Hobson and the sexy Joan Greenwood.

I just love it!

CrossPurposes · 22/09/2025 16:06

Trivia: Celia Johnson was extremely shortsighted and the only film in which she wore her glasses was in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

I love this photo of her instantly recognisable from her school days.

Brief Encounter- the film
Westfacing · 21/09/2025 12:05

It does of course seem very dated especially with the absurdly clipped accents, but it's quietly erotic in my opinion.

They have obviously fallen for each other and you can see given the chance they would have had sex!

But they accepted that they couldn't be together and so had to part.

HonoriaBulstrode · 21/09/2025 11:53

I had a dream about Clint Eastwood, I mean not as he is now but when he was a very handsome young man

Keep rollin', rollin', rollin'
Though the streams are swollen
Keep them dogies rollin', rawhide

Through rain an' wind an' weather
Hellbent for leather
Wishin' my gal was by my side....

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 21/09/2025 09:56

MaturingCheeseball · 21/09/2025 08:51

On a boiling afternoon in NY, I rashly suggested to a similarly unairconditioned acquaintance that we go to see Some Like it Hot at the (cold) cinema. I love that film.

At the end she said it was soooo boring and weird and she’d just dozed. I know “Nobody’s perfect” (!) but really …

Crikey. I'd have been avoiding her thereafter. There are some others on this thread putting themselves in a similar position. (I'm sure they're devastated!)

Public Service Announcement: Kind Hearts and Coronets is on Film4 at 11am today. One of my all-time favourite films, even higher on the list than Brief Encounter, and slugging it out with The Third Man, The Maltese Falcon, Withnail and I and Some Like it Hot for the runner up position to The Godfather. Anyone who thinks Brief Encounter is boring, dated and immoral had probably best give this a swerve.

TheignT · 21/09/2025 09:51

WestwardHo1 · 21/09/2025 09:47

Clint Eastwood was the most charismatic sexy man in the history of cinema. Fact.

Show quote history

I was honoured to make him a dream coffee. He smiled such a lovely smile. I think I want to go to sleep again.

WestwardHo1 · 21/09/2025 09:47

TheignT · 21/09/2025 09:30

Well this thread clearly got into my head last night as I had a dream about Clint Eastwood, I mean not as he is now but when he was a very handsome young man which is clearly very ageist of me as a 72 year old.

It got very hot and steamy. .........................................................................................
when he asked me for a black coffee with two sugars. Not sure what a psychiatrist would make of that.

Clint Eastwood was the most charismatic sexy man in the history of cinema. Fact.

TheignT · 21/09/2025 09:30

Well this thread clearly got into my head last night as I had a dream about Clint Eastwood, I mean not as he is now but when he was a very handsome young man which is clearly very ageist of me as a 72 year old.

It got very hot and steamy. .........................................................................................
when he asked me for a black coffee with two sugars. Not sure what a psychiatrist would make of that.

BrisPerm · 21/09/2025 09:26

theleafandnotthetree · 21/09/2025 00:27

I wouldn't be proud of that. If you can conclude that after reading some of the very beautiful reflections here, you must be very lacking in sensitivity..

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😂 sorry I’m just not into soppy shite

MaturingCheeseball · 21/09/2025 08:51

On a boiling afternoon in NY, I rashly suggested to a similarly unairconditioned acquaintance that we go to see Some Like it Hot at the (cold) cinema. I love that film.

At the end she said it was soooo boring and weird and she’d just dozed. I know “Nobody’s perfect” (!) but really …

theleafandnotthetree · 21/09/2025 00:27

BrisPerm · 20/09/2025 23:31

Never seen it but it sounds dull as fuck 😂 I doubt I’d last 15 minutes into it

I wouldn't be proud of that. If you can conclude that after reading some of the very beautiful reflections here, you must be very lacking in sensitivity..

BrisPerm · 20/09/2025 23:31

Never seen it but it sounds dull as fuck 😂 I doubt I’d last 15 minutes into it

JustCabbaggeLooking · 20/09/2025 23:30

TheignT · 20/09/2025 20:53

Her daughter is Lucy Flaming who was Jenny in Survivors, the original one in the 70s.

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A very interesting family. Celia's daughters own the rights to Ian Fleming's writings.
Most notably, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang😉

TheignT · 20/09/2025 20:53

diddl · 20/09/2025 20:12

Celia Johnson was married to Peter Fleming who was Ian Fleming's brother.

Her daughter is Lucy Flaming who was Jenny in Survivors, the original one in the 70s.

Itiswhysofew · 20/09/2025 20:39

Ketzele · 19/09/2025 21:16

I don't think the film is approving of emotional affairs at all. I love how it draws us from the early days, when the new friendship is bright and innocent and Laura actually tells her husband she met a nice man, through the development to a chaste romance and then to them being on the verge of becoming sexual, where the entry of an outside observer suddenly reveals them as tipping into the tawdry, and makes them feel sickened with themselves.

I love, love, love how the husband is gentle and understanding, and happy to live with his own uncertainty in order to preserve his marriage. I think we are meant to sympathise with Laura's boredom with her routine life, and with the excitement of falling for Alec, and for her decision to rebuild life with her husband and children. It is gently understanding rather than righteous. It is happy to paddle in moral ambiguity.

Of course, this was written in 1945 by a gay man, who certainly understood the pains and pleasures of secret love. That gives it an extra layer, a depth. And of course the music is amazing.

You have a gift with words. Really enjoyed your synopsis.

diddl · 20/09/2025 20:12

Celia Johnson was married to Peter Fleming who was Ian Fleming's brother.

Firefly1987 · 20/09/2025 19:47

WestwardHo1 · 20/09/2025 10:25

What surprises me was the age of the actors when they made it. When watching is as a youngster, I always assumed Laura and Alec were in their mid to late 40s. Watching it the other day as a fifty year old, I can see that Celia Johnson was younger than that, and it's her hair and clothes which age her in the film. She was 37 when she made it. Trevor Howard was....32!!!

Edited

I was just about to say! I thought it was just because I was young when I watched it but when I googled their ages recently I was shocked! People really seemed older back then.