We’re neither of us free to love each other - there’s too much in the way

Dr. Alec Harvey: "I love you. I love you. You love me too. It's no use pretending it hasn't happened 'cause it has."

Laura Jesson: "Yes it has. I don't want to pretend anything either to you or to anyone else. But from now on, I shall have to. That's what's wrong. Don't you see? That's what spoils everything. That's why we must stop, here and now, talking like this. We're neither of us free to love each other. There's too much in the way. There's still time, if we control ourselves and behave like sensible human beings. There's still time."

We are such romantic softies. Well, actually we are fans of excellent film-making... That is why we went along to see the newly remastered classic Brief Encounter tonight (part of the David Lean centenary season at the BFI).

What a cinematic giant this film really is! Written in the last months of WW2 and produced by "the Master" Noel Coward, directed in Lean's charismatic "noir" style, and with bravura stiff-upper-lip style performances by its stars Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard, there can't be many people who are unfamiliar with this mannered, typically English gem of a tale about restrained infidelity and lost love.

But even if Brief Encounter is one of those familiar films of many a Xmas-at-home, there is nothing that quite compares with indulging yourself in a gorgeous big-screen black & white nostalgic delicacy of this kind every now and then...

Brief Encounter: "Shall I See You Again?"

Brief Encounter: Final Scene

Such a classic that even Victoria Wood needed to have a go:

Victoria Wood - Brief Encounter parody

Brief Encounter IMDB entry

David Lean centenary season BFI