Brief Encounter - 1945

It never ceases to amaze me that the man behind a 200+ minute, full-scale epic like Lawrence of Arabia could just pivot to a two-hander so firmly nuanced and pulsing with the full spectrum of the human experience. Yet, here stands this little gem in defiance of the odds.

Brief Encounter is simply one of the greatest screenplays in existence. Moreover, our lack of familiarity with its key players only make it feel all the more ubiquitous.

And a rare masterful use of artful voiceover, which is not utilized to mask lazy writin, but actually underscores the message being conveyed.

What is that exactly? Well, longing, desire and the dissonance they sometimes engender in even the most sincere, unsuspecting souls. A standard bearer in depicting the sometimes reckless, albeit miraculous, experience of falling in love. In sum, rarely before (and perhaps since) have these themes been so craftily rendered.

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FOF Rating - 5 out of 5