Brief Encounter (Light Hearted)

Jaberwok

I thought Tweedle24 was alluding to a gay relationship. I was just pointing out that Alec and Stephen didn't live together and were not in a relationship. Stephen could well have been but not with Alec. Sorry hollysteers, I didn't mean to correct you, it was just for clarity!!!

I was but, only that I had read that the French thought there was a gay relationship, not that I thought that.

Anniebach

Richard Curtis is gay ?

Oh dear, I think I've confused him with Russell T Davies. Sorry about the mistake.

DanniRae

Sorry, I think some posters are reading far too much into the relationship in this film. It is about a woman and a man having a brief, secret affair. For me that's it - everything else is speculation!

To paraphrase: Sorry, I think that some posters aren't reading enough into the film.

You can enjoy things on a superficial level of you wish, but art would not become 'great' if it did not have deeper meaning or purpose.

Sorry, I think some posters are reading far too much into the relationship in this film. It is about a woman and a man having a brief, secret affair. For me that's it - everything else is speculation!

It’s my favourite film of all time, so beautifully structured and acted. It is, after all, Noel Coward, who wasn’t known as The Master for nothing. I’ve never give on much thought to Alec - to me the film is about Laura.

I do just about remember that world. My mother went shopping every day with a wicker basket, and once a week to the local equivalent of Milford, by train. I don’t think she met an Alec, though! I remember Boots libraries, too, but it was the mention of the Kardomah that really triggered nostalgia. No trip to town was complete without a trip to the Kardomah for coffee and a toasted tea cake.

I agree with Fanny Cornforth that there is probably a subtext about gay relationships, the necessity for secrecy, the illicit thrill. I didn’t think of that before I knew that Noel Coward was gay, but once I knew that it became obvious.

I agree that middle class English women (& men) used to have that accent- am the old BBC announcers talked like that and you hear it in lots of old films. It sounds very strange & OTT now. Even the queen has toned down her accent to some extent.

hollysteers that was the point that I have been trying to make.
I don't know why it is proving so difficult!

The gay aspect is taken into consideration with Brief Encounter, not because the male lead lived with a man but because Noel Coward was gay at a time when it was against the law. This would lead to an understanding and knowledge of unconventional relationships, the difficulties encountered ? and the need for secrecy. He, like Rattigan and Tennessee Williams, are brilliant at portraying hidden, deep emotions.

I thought Tweedle24 was alluding to a gay relationship. I was just pointing out that Alec and Stephen didn't live together and were not in a relationship. Stephen could well have been but not with Alec. Sorry hollysteers, I didn't mean to correct you, it was just for clarity!!!

Love Brief Encounter and the era it portrays. Particularly like seeing the high street, the station cafe and how the house was decorated. Also love Casablanca, Rebecca and Great Expectations - all classics in their time. But my most favourite film of all is It's a Wonderful Life - I watch it every Christmas and cry each time!

No one said that there was a gay relationship in Brief Encounter Jaberwok

I remember Mrs Dale!! The was no gay relationship in Brief Encounter. Alec didn't live with Stephen, he stood in for him one day a week at the local hospital when Stephen went to London to work in a private clinic. The rest of the time Alec had his own practise, wife and two sons some distance away, hence the train journeys. They were old College friends and Alex had access to the flat and use of Stephens car (surely he'd have had one of his own?) on that one day. He invited Laura to the flat but unfortunately Stephen arrived home early and was not best pleased at his flat being used as a love next. He demanded that Alec hand his keys back, so ending their friendship. Wonder what happened over the hospital arrangement?!!

I’m far too young to remember Mrs. Dale’s Diary MawBe?, but I’m a great fan of old films and watched a film the other night (1940) with Michael Redgrave playing a London crane driver whose parents had obviously taken the trouble to send him to elocution lessons ?, dead posh he sounded...
The Queen in her youth had the same accent. And RP is an accent, although my late husband argued the toss with me on that one.

hollysteers

Celia’s voice is a bit much though isn’t it!?

Celia Johnson’s voice was like that - as were most middle class women of her time.
Remember Mrs Dale’s Diary?

Perhaps I am being dense. I love this film but didn’t think there was a same sex relationship in it! where was there?

My all time favourite film.

Oops, I meant Carnforth!

Yes, it’s Carnforth. I went to Lancaster Uni and had a 40th reunion last year when we went to Carnforth station and had our photo taken under the clock! It’s well worth a visit- we had tea and cake in the waiting room!

DannieRae I don’t think, in this country, it was considered anything to do with a gay relationship. I do remember, however, reading that when shown in France, that was thought to be the point of the film. It was not usual in France for two men to share a flat unless they were gay and in a relationship.

I think it's Carnforth not Conniston.

MawBe

Did you know that Celia Johnson was Ian Fleming’s (James Bond) sister in law?
And that her husband Peter Fleming, a British adventurer, journalist and travel writer was also head of the ruthless Resistance Army of Kent and Sussex, a band of 20 guerilla units dedicated to killings as many Germans as possible in the event of an invasion?
Worthy of an Ian Fleming novel in itself!

Maw dear, that is terribly terribly interesting.

Celia’s voice is a bit much though isn’t it!?

You have made an excellent point Fanny. Both Noel Coward and Terence Rattigan were masters of the forbidden and unspoken, which give their works such truthfulness.
Trevor Howard was no Errol Flynn in the looks department but the Rachmaninov score is wonderful.
The film started life as a radio play.
I visited Coniston station last year and had a cuppa in the tearoom, still looking like the 1940s, a lovely trip.

Yes, it was filmed in Carnforth. They have Brief Encounter on a loop at the station.

On yes, I would think that her husband certainly knew something was occupying her mind that didn't include him! Wasn't it filmed in Carnforth in Lancashire? Supposedly far enough away from London which could still be dangerous at the end of the war.