Brief encounters
We pulled Brief Encounters out of my Janus collection that T gave me for my 50th birthday and began watching it last night. It’s a 1945 movie by David Lean about a woman who has an affair – it’s a melodrama – they say this movie may have even set the bar for melodramas to come. It’s a great movie and deserves to be part of anyone’s classic collection. The thing that was fascinating is in reading the review in the Janus book, it describes the woman’s reaction as being rather dated but actually I watched the film and found her reaction spot on. She loved her husband and at the same time was so drawn to this man and the affair. She was tortured by her decision. I love the part (almost reminded me of The Louise Logs) of her whispering to her husband as they sat across from one another in their living room – having experienced the exact same phenomenon – it’s like an out of body experience.
It is a beautifully drawn character study of an ordinary woman who is having an affair.
The ending is happier in a world where things get righted – the big screen – than it is in real life where things turn upside down, but if you are like me, you come to believe there are no accidents in life, there are no coincidences in life, we are writing our lives every moment, we are narrating our lives in shouts and whispers.
January 10th, 2011 at 11:29 am
This is definitely going in my Netflix queue. Have you read Pia Ehrhardt’s Famous Fathers and other stories? My sister described it as “sophisticated chic lit” (fair enough) but if the subject of this film interests you, it’s a book I’d recommend.
Interesting to read something from the other side of the coin, so to speak.
January 10th, 2011 at 11:55 am
Haven’t read it – but will add to my list. You’ll love Brief Encounters – hard to believe the same director of those big epic films made this one. Sort of reminds me of the out of character Ingmar Bergman Scenes from a Marriage that I also loved and highly recommend.