Companion Piece: Brief Encounter (1945)

Tweet

A Mr. Dave Blakeslee, who runs the blog Criterion Reflections that features his own personal and regularly intervalled ruminations on the films in The Criterion Collection, provides in a recent post an interesting delving into the heart of one of my favorite films in the Collection: 1945's Brief Encounter, directed by David Lean. Though this delving may not be particularly attuned to the specifically complex intricacies that the film may have to offer as a work in isolation, it does give a good sense of an overall appreciation for the connections within the work itself as well as of the work with its historical context. With such a framework of basic ideas and contextual explanations, the review succeeds where it provides a medium of contact for those present-day viewers of the film, who otherwise may have found the reticence, the taciturn physical intimacy, and the oblique parting of ways a passive nightmare, lifelessly stiff and unmoving, rather than the pulsing and gripping flight of fantasy that they ought to be found and - in my opinion as well as Mr Blakeslee's - quite well are. Observe the clip that he has included (and that I have reposted here, above) to be sure yourself. Happy viewing, all!