Events

BRIEF ENCOUNTER (1945, d. David Lean, sc. Noel Coward; starring Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway)

David Lean is known for making some of the greatest epic films in all of cinema (The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia to name just two). But before Lean’s films went big, he made a number of impressive small-scale and intimate films in the 1940s and 1950s.

A chance encounter at a train depot on a routine Thursday brings two strangers, each conventional and married with children, into an intimate orbit. Subsequent encounters kindle a hoped-for relationship bringing the pair to the brink of infidelity. Their attraction and the rush of an imagined romance dissipate in the moral light of their homebound duties and the conventions of 1945. They’re just trains passing in a station.

David Lean’s intimate portrait of two seemingly anonymous passers-by (that one might find in any public gathering place) has an experts’ eye for detail and a universal sentimentality. Written by famed playwright and frequent Lean collaborator Noel Coward (based on his play Still Life), Brief Encounter is one of the more achingly romantic films of the cinema, and considered one of the greatest British films ever made.

The Film Salon meets at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema located at 250 East Montecillo Drive. All screenings are $7 and tickets can be purchased in advance (recommended) through the Alamo Drafthouse website or at the door (seating may be limited). Come out early and enjoy some of the Alamo’s extensive drink and food options.

Please visit our website at www.filmsalon.org for direction and a link to purchase tickets.