"Brief Encounter" by David Lean (1945)

I wonder were David Lean and Noël Coward in post-WW2 war-torn England aware of staggering effect this movie will have on audiences ever since - although today we see it from different perspective than their contemporaries, under all the deliciously old-fashioned cellophane the core and its heart are still extremely moving, much more than just admiration of the camera work and settings: I was all set for a enjoyable evening with rusty old classic and before you know it, something in the script made me start thinking about my own life.

The fact that characters of Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard are very far removed from our time - they are well-behaved, proper and quite innocent people compared to how people behave today - serves only to create magic atmosphere that only greatest movies sometimes do: majority of people nowadays, if struck with such immediate attraction would probably not think twice before simply devouring each other somewhere quickly but Johnson and Howard belong to different generation when such things were simply not done, out of self-respect. The subject could have been scandalous and sordid - secret affair between two strangers who are both married to other people and have family obligations - but Coward pours his heart out in this romantic dream and Lean matches it with unforgettable images of trains passing trough the night, constantly coming and going, arriving and leaving until it becomes almost unbearable. I was familiar with original music recordings by Noël Coward and every sentence sounds exactly as coming from him, they have his typical clipped rhythm so perfectly acted by everybody involved. Surely, it gets overtly melodramatic from time to time and I found myself giggling from sheer embarrassment as watching my own grandparents flirting but the very next moment the movie played me as a violin, tugging at the heartstrings in a way I didn't expect at all. Since their love affair could never be truly consummated, Johnson and Howard take from life whatever they can so they innocently enjoy stolen moments, drive in a countryside and watch the silly movies together - waiting for the next Thursday and of course, agonising all the time ("we must stop this! we must be sensible!") but they are decent people and won't just jump in any bush because that would spoil everything, although later of course there will be a lifetime of regret. Don't tell me that middle-aged people don't behave like this anymore, because I see it on daily basis, when husbands buy jewelry from me at work and than hide it in their pockets, grinning like little schoolboys, this is what love does to people. It makes you behaving in a completely possessed way and some even call it temporary madness. I watched "Brief Encounter" for the first time last night with a perfect understanding I will watch it again and again. We all have our own Johnsons and Howards at least once in lifetime.