I didn't think such violent things could happen to ordinary people.

Brief Encounter — 3.5/5

I think for me, there's a thought that if this were Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman, I would probably be taken by it more; the natural charm, two people bigger than whatever current relationship they're in who find each other, but bound all the same by a pre-existing contract with a lesser being who isn't bad, simply nice enough. But I think the beauty of this movie is how normal Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard are. "Do you realize, Sir, that if Celia Johnson could contemplate being unfaithful to her husband, my wife could contemplate being unfaithful to me?" is the truth of it. I appreciate from there the leanness of the movie; a grand romance told in 86 minutes and just a few weeks of knowing each other. There's an undeniable beauty here and I, like Alec, fall in love with Laura with her big eyes and pursed lips. Middle-class as they are, they both, bathed in the light of love, become more attractive as the film goes on. Though I think then, my ultimate disconnect is that I don't fall in love with Alec. He seems too forceful, too sure, the romance seeming less like an accident, a giant hole that they just happened to step into. She fell; he leaped.