BRIEF ENCOUNTER (1945) Cert PG
Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway, Joyce Cary. Directed by David Lean.
Brief Encounter is still one of the most romantic British movies ever made, even if its stiff-upper-lip middle class restraint might seem at first like a throwback to a bygone era. But is it? That sense of yearning to escape from a comfortable, but perhaps slightly dull marriage is something we probably all experience at one time or another, even if we never act upon it. In that respect, this wonderful film is in many ways as perceptive and as timely today as it has ever been. The screenplay is by Noel Coward, adapted from his own one act play Still Life. David Lean - best-known for Great Expectations, Bridge Over The River Kwai and A Passage To India among others - is the director, already at the peak of his power exploring on film the intricacies of the British class system. But the film belongs to Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard as the star-crossed would-be lovers, who meet by chance on a railway platform, and embark upon a furtive friendship that is adultery in all but fact. Still marvellous after all these years.
The film starts at 8pm but Ushers Bar is open for drinks and dinner from 6pm. Contact us for more details and to book for dinner.